


What's a Soul Mate?

by themoonandthesun



Category: One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Witches, i wasnt planning on witches it just happened, witch!niall, witch!zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-01-18 05:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1416814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoonandthesun/pseuds/themoonandthesun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you using the sink or are you going to get out of my way princess?"</p><p>"Do you seriously use the bathroom while wearing that atrocious thing?" Louis asks, not moving from the sink. He starts washing his hands just to take up more time. "Do you go out in public wearing that atrocious shirt?" Louis turns around and glares at the man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> If no one reads this then ill probably not add more. I do have this whole thing planned out but i dont wanna write all this and have no one read it, ya know? eh who knows maybe ill add more just because i want to finish this
> 
> EDIT: I changed the summary! Sorry guys, it was just like that summary was like eh.. i wouldnt read somethingbwith that summary! Ya know? So, i changed it. Sorry if there was any confusion!

Everyone has a soul mate. Its something that everyone gets when they come of age. You start to see glimpses of them when you are younger. It is kind of like seeing the future, you see you and your soul mate doing everyday things, you can see lots of things about them the only thing you cant see is their face. When you turn 21 you have to go to a center, where they show you around to all the people that are 21 or above, if you find your soul mate you get a black mark that covers half of your body. They will be exactly like your soul mates. When your soul mate dies, the marks spread over your whole body and most of your face. They turn white, so they just look like scars left all over your body. They look like someone cut into your skin where the marks should have been. If you don't find your soul mate at the center, they keep you there. You stay there until you do find your soul mate. Once you have found your soul mate they take you to an apartment where you have one year to prove that you guys were meant for each other. There are cameras all over the apartments to watch and make sure that you aren't trying to trick anyone. If you do not convince the council that you guys were meant to be, you will be ripped away from each other, thrown into institutions across the world form each other. Being away from your soul mate causes excruciating pain and will fuck up your mental health. They keep you there until you beg to die, then they kill you. The government has done this to prevent any kind of abuse in households, to keep this world a perfect place, but what happens when it goes wrong?

Subject 155204, also known as Louis Tomlinson, started having dreams about his soul mate when he was 6. That is 6 years earlier than the average person. The first dream he had was of him and another boy. A boy with unruly hair that was pushed back, away from his face. The face was blurred out, but he was tall. Way taller than Louis.

 _In soul mate dreams, are we the same age there as we are now?_ He asks his mom the next morning. _Of course not sweetie, why? Did you have a soul mate dream?_

Louis was standing next to him, sighing as he leaned against the kitchen counter. The other boy was talking to him. He couldn't make out the words but he could hear the frustration in the other boys voice as he talked. "I'm sorry." He says, not knowing why but knowing that it was important that he apologized for whatever it is that he had done. His mother always told him that he was a trouble child, he didn't mean to be. The other boy sighs and shakes his head. "Its ok"

 _I think I did have a dream._ Louis says quietly. _Baby, you're only 6. Maybe you just had a really weird dream. Maybe it wasn't a soulmate dream._  Louis shakes his head. He knows it wasn't just a weird dream. Everything felt real. He felt like that man he was talking to was someone he couldn't be without. When he woke up that morning he started crying because he was only 6 and he wouldn't even have a chance to find that man, his soul mate, for another 15 years. He doesn't tell his mother that.

Louis looks down at his shoes. They are so small compared to the other boys. "Babe" he hears the man say. He looks up slowly and the man walks forward and cups Louis' face. The man says something quietly and Louis bites his lip. The man leans his forehead against Louis and Louis closes his eyes. He could stay like this forever. The man is leaning closer when Louis wakes up. He lays in bed for a long time. Who was that? He stays in bed for a long time before getting up. That was 14 years ago. He's 20 now. _Only a couple more months until I find my soul mate._

There is a big ceremony every time someone turns 21 and today is one of those days. Everyone is required to show up. He doesn't even know the kid who's ceremony it is. "Hey, are you coming?" Harry pokes his head in the door to Louis room. Louis looks over. Maybe Hazza is my soul mate. He's taller than me. He has curly hair, maybe if he pushed it back it would be him. Harry walks into the room and pulls Louis over with him. "Come on, we're going to be late." _I'd have to wait 2 years before he comes to find me on his 21st birthday._ Harry is talking, not even noticing that Louis isn't listening. Maybe it isn't him. He doesn't feel like my soul mate. He is probably going to end up with someone like Niall or something. Niall is cute. They would suit each other. Harry sighs loudly, bringing Louis out of his thoughts. Louis looks around. They are already at the stadium. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

Louis looks back at Harry. "Sorry.." He mumbles quietly. Liam walks over, dragging Niall by his ear and a sleepy looking Zayn following after them. "Niall was already drinking! We are going to get busted if he keeps this up" He turns and glares at Niall and Niall just pouts. Zayn slings his arm around Louis shoulders, out of the corner of his eye he sees someone wearing a black cloak run past. They all turn and look but the person is gone, like he was never there. The boys just shrug and keep talking. Louis' shoulder starts to sting. He rubs at it, probably got stung by a bee or something. The boys all go to sit down but Louis says he has to use the bathroom.

 _Why do I feel so weird. I cant even keep up on the conversation._ He goes into the bathroom and splashes water on his face. _Maybe im just tired._ A person walks out of one of the stalls, wearing a long black hooded cloak. He stops behind Louis, the hood of his cloak casting a shadow that covers his face. "Are you using the sink or are you going to get out of my way princess?"

"Do you seriously use the bathroom while wearing that atrocious thing?" Louis asks, not moving from the sink. He starts washing his hands just to take up more time. "Do you go out in public wearing that atrocious shirt?" Louis turns around and glares at the man. The man pulls down the hood and Louis feels like someone knocked the air out of him. Its the same hair, the same condescending attitude, the same body, the same hands.

The man grabs Louis hips and moves him aside. Louis opens him mouth to say something, anything. Nothing comes out. "What's the matter love? Cat got your tongue?" Louis shoulder starts to sting again. This time worse then before. The pain travels up his shoulder and across his neck. It goes down his arm and to his wrist. The man freezes, before jumping away from the sink and running out of the bathroom, hood pulled back up. Louis watches him, baffled. He walks out of the bathroom and slowly makes his way to his group of friends.

People stop and stare as he walks past them. _What did I do now?_ He thinks to himself. He gets over to the boys and they stand there, gaping at him like fish. He raises a perfect eyebrow and tilts his head. "What have I done now?" They all stand there with shocked expressions. Liam finally snaps out of it enough to ask, "Lou? What have you done to your--" He gestures to Louis' whole body. Louis looks down at himself. "What? Is it my clothes? Why didn't you say something before?" Liam shakes his head and reaches out to pull the collar of Louis' shirt down. Louis looks down and sees nothing. He raises an eyebrow and Zayn takes out his phone to snap a picture. He hands the phone to Louis and by now everyone is staring at Louis and whispering. Louis looks around at everyone before taking the phone Zayn is handing him. On the phone is a picture of Louis, on his neck is a gold mark, shining enough to mess up the picture, as if zayn had taken a picture of the sun. The mark of a soul mate. It extends to the underside of his chin and down under his shirt.

He stares at it for a long time. "I'm not 21 yet." he says quietly. "We aren't supposed to get our marks until we turn 21." He starts to get hysterical. "My parents knew each other since they were babies and still didn't get their marks until they were both 21. I only talked to the guy for 30 seconds. why do I have a mark already?" He starts to hyperventilate and Liam rushes to hold him. "You met him?" One of the other boys ask. He thinks it might have had a slight Irish accent but Harry had just got back from picking up Niall in Ireland so it could have been Harry.

The Council stormed over to see what the ruckus was all about. They all looked at Louis for a long while before one of the raised a hand and 2 big security guys walked over, picking up Louis and carrying him off. The council disappears with a puff of smoke and the boys stand there dumbfounded. Each person that breathes in the smoke left in their wake cant seem to remember why they are all standing around when they have a ceremony to get to.

"Hey guys, have any of you seen Louis?" Liam asks the other boys. "I don't know, haven't seen him since yesterday." Is what Zayns reply is. The other boys just shrug and find their seats.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick is mean and Zayn is confused

Louis gets dragged to a room where the council members are all sat in a half circle and they are all staring at him. The one in the middle stands up “Where did he go?” _That is not what I was_ _expecting_ , Louis thinks to himself. “Who?” He asks quietly. He knows better than to ask questions that will make them mad. They execute without a second thought and they will do it for the simplest things. “Your soul mate.” another answers. _My soul mate? What has he got to do with anything?_ Thinking back, he did seem like he was over aged. Why was he not being held in a facility? "I don’t know, I don’t even know who he was. I thought my soul mate would end up being one of my friends not some random guy i met in the toilets. Not that i am even sure that its him. It could be anyone really. I was just assuming it was him because he had similar hair to the guy in my dreams. Harry could just as easily be my soul mate. He has kind of similar hair. and hey i met him in a bathroom too! isn’t that funny?" He rambles on and the council looks very annoyed. _Oh god_ _I’m_ _going to die._ Louis thinks to himself after he finishes his rambling. One of the council members raises an eye brow. “What is his name?” Louis starts to panic _Did he say his name? Have a heard it in a dream? Would I be willing to give up my soul mate anyways? I_ _don’t_ _even know him. And from what_ _I’ve_ _seen in the dreams we_ _don’t_ _get along._ He shakes his head to clear those thoughts. _I cant do that. That would be wrong._ Louis opens his mouth to answer and the doors burst open. “We’ve found him.” A guard says in a rush.

A council member disappears in a cloud of smoke. Everyone stays silent. Not telling Louis anything or asking him anything. The council member appears a few feet away from Louis, shoving a hooded figure to Louis. Louis catches him before he falls on his face and he looks up at Louis, hood slipping off his face. “Thanks princess.” He says, standing up by himself. He has got the same mark as Louis does. Glowing golden, even in the dimly lit room the council have dragged them too. He grins at Louis with a mischievous look in his eyes before one of the council members narrows her eyes and mumbles something under her breath. He screams, falling to his knees and clawing at the mark, trying to rip it off. Louis can feel his mark tingling. When he stops screaming, the council begins to talk. “Nicholas Grimshaw, you have been charged with resisting arrest, fighting guards, stealing, murder and out right disobeying the council by removing your tracker and hiding away for 4 years. What do you have to say for your self?”

_Oh god, my soul mate is a murderer. I_ _can’t_ _fall in love with a murderer. What if they kill him? That_ _will_ _hurt me but be quick for him._ _That’s_ _not really fair._ “Yeah, uh, I  didn’t do any of that so can I go or..?” The council all looks from the guy to Louis. 

“You wouldn’t care if your soul mate was killed?” One of the meaner looking ones asks Louis. There is clearly no right answer here. “Wow, you are an asshole.” Everyone turns to look at him, Nicholas Grimshaw. “I am about to die and you’re just thinking about leaving me. That is actually heartless. I can not believe you.” Louis gapes at him. “You cant believe me? You murdered people and _you_ _can’t_ _believe me?_ What the hell is wrong with you, Nicholas?” Nicholas scoffs. “Just Nick darling. I had a good reason to kill them. You are actually OK with your soul mate dying! You are evil. I want a new soul mate.” He turns to the council “I demand a new soul mate.” The council stands there baffled. “You come in here demanding something from us? You’re kidding right?” The one in the middle asks, an amused smile fighting its way to the surface. 

“No I am not kidding.” He looks at Louis, he looks like he is actually mad. “My soul mate is an evil little shit. Why would I want to have an evil soul mate?” Louis gives him an offended look. Louis shakes his head. “You have murdered people. You killed real people. But you think I’m the evil one? You must be joking.” The other guy shakes his head and looks away, ignoring that Louis is even there. “You guys can give me a new soul mate. I’ve seen it done before.” Louis raises his eye brow. _There is no such thing as getting a new soul mate. That person was made for you. How could you just have a new soul mate?_ “We will not give you another soul mate.” The one in the middle says happily. _What the hell are you so happy about?_ “What we will do is so much better.” 

The rest of the council looked as confused as Louis felt. “We are going to lock you guy up together.” She says excitedly. “Lock us up..together?” Louis becomes out raged. “I  haven’t done anything to deserve being locked up. Just because I have some sort of fucked up soul mate  doesn’t mean that I have done  _anything_ to deserve being locked up.” He turns and glares at Nick. “I hate you. I really really hate you.” The council member grins, an evil grin. Her teeth are sharp, as if she had them sharpened. Her eyes look like those of a psychotic murderer.  _Oh wait, she probably is._ “If you guy do not prove you are in love within the year, you will both be killed.”  _There it is. Awesome._

_~*~*~*~*~_

They get thrown into a house. The locks are on the outside. The windows are melted shut. The council says they will be delivered food every week. Nick  hasn’t said a word since the council said they would be locked together. They implanted a new tracker in the back of his neck and he  didn’t complain like Louis was expecting.  There is are 3 bedrooms. There are  Tv’s in every room. There are video games and dvds. “My parents are going to know  I' m missing. They are going to worry.” Nick turns and looks at him. “I don't care princess, and the council definitely  doesn’t either.” He walks into one of the rooms and closes the door. Louis stands there shocked. 

He shakes his head and goes to sit in the living room,  curled in on himself in front of the couch .  _ Why the hell is he such an asshole? I  _ _ haven’t _ _ done anything to him.  _ Louis sits there thinking about his family and about is friends. He hopes Liam is having a proper fit looking for him. He hopes Harry is lost without him. Harry never could do much without Louis there. He hopes Niall is pouting because he  doesn’t have  Louis’ great sense of humor to laugh at. Most of all he hopes Zayn knows exactly where he is and will come save him from this evil man that is supposed to be his soul mate.

~*~*~*~*~

Louis falls asleep there on the floor in front of the couch, curled up in a ball. He wakes up to Nick in the kitchen, making a lot of unnecessary noise. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” He asks as he storms into the kitchen. Nick turns around and glances at him before he turns back around, completely ignoring Louis. “I was trying to sleep.” He says angrily. “I don’t care.” is the only answer he gets back. Louis sits down. _He was a lot nicer in my dreams._ Nick turns around abruptly. “I uh,” He stops and turns back around. Louis waits for him to add more but he doesn’t and Louis doesn’t wait around for him to grow a pair and finish his sentence.

He gets up and goes to look in all of the cupboards. There has to be something here that he knows how to make. _C'mon,_ _you’ve_ _seen Harry cook many times. Just do whatever he did._ Louis pulls out some pasta and sauce and puts it on the counter. _This is easy. I can do this._ He gets out a pot and fills it with water. He puts it on the stove and turns around to look at Nick. “You don't have to be an asshole to me. I haven't done anything to you. You aren't better than me.” Nick scoffs, “I am better than you actually.” Louis glares at him. “Is there any reason you hate me? Or is it because I'm prettier, younger, smarter?” Nick closes his eyes and puts his head in his hands. “Yes princess, it’s definitely that.” He pauses, looking back at Louis before he sighs and shakes his head. “You are--” He cuts himself off. “Forget it. Just leave me alone. Give me my space and ill give you yours.” He starts to walk out of the kitchen but Louis grabs his arm. “You can't just storm out of every room available. We need to at least pretend that we are in love because I'm not to keen on dying.”

Nick looks down at Louis. “You were never supposed to be my soul mate. I dont love you.” He pushes Louis' hand off of him and Louis stumbles. “I never said you have to love me. Just pretend.” Nick shakes his head. “I can't even do that”

~*~*~*~*~

Subject  165616,  also known as Zayn Malik, was given more free thinking then other kids his age. He was part of an  experiment when he was younger. He notices things that no one else does. However, he was also made really shy. When he notices something is off, he keeps it to himself. This time, when it involves his best friend being missing, he  doesn't plan on staying quiet about it. 

“Harry, have you seen Louis?” Harry stops in the middle of a sentence. Zayn was going to wait until he was done talking but he started one of his stories and Zayn didn't want to forget his question before he could even ask. “What? Yeah, we were hanging out with him a couple days ago.” _Exactly,_ _that's_ _the problem._ “You haven't seen him since before the ceremony for that Blake kid have you?” Harry gives Zayn a worried look. “Do you think that he got locked up for missing the ceremony?” 

Zayn shakes his head. He knows it wasn't that simple. The past few nights he has been having dreams about a golden soul mate mark on Louis. He knows everything to do with Louis is a lot more complicated then simply forgetting to go to a ceremony. He sighs and pulls out his phone. Maybe Liam will know something.

“I'm going to go see Liam. I'll see you later.” Harry bites his lip worriedly, “Have I done something?” Zayn turns around, already almost out the door. “No, why would you ask that?” Harry pulls on one of his curls. “I was in the middle of a story and you just got up to leave.” His eye lashes are gathering almost formed tears. “I told you I wanted to talk to Liam about Louis.” Zayn says looking anywhere but Harry. If he stays, he won't be able to ask Liam if he has heard anything from Louis. “Louis? Has he done something wrong? I don't think I've seen him lately.” Zayn looks back up abruptly. They _just_ had this conversation.  Zayn looks at the clock on the wall behind Harry, 30 seconds pass and Harry starts to speak again. “You're leaving? I was still telling you my story.” 

_ Something is wrong here.  _ Zayn sighs, “A family emergency came up. My sister is sick and my mom has work. I need to go take care of her.” Harry brightens. “Tell them I said hi.” He grins at Zayn who just shakes his head and walks out the door. 

His phone rings in his hand.  _ Unknown Number _ . “Hello?” 

“ _What have I done now?”_ Louis' voice comes through the speaker. 

“Lou?”

_ "Lou? What have you done to your--”  Liam’s _ voice answers. 

“Liam? Have you guys pocket dialed me? Your OK Lou?”

_ "What? Is it my clothes? Why didn't you say something before?"  _

“Louis, mate? Why are you pocket dialing me from a blocked number? Hello? Can you hear me?”

_ "I'm not 21 yet." _ He hears Louis say quietly.  _ "We aren't supposed to get our marks until we turn 21." _

“What? You got your mark?”Zayn asks shocked. 

_ "My parents knew each other since they were babies and still didn't get their marks until they were both 18. I only talked to the guy for 30 seconds. why do I have a mark already?”  _ Louis babbles. He can hear a lot of people in the background. Why are they talking abou t this in public? Is Louis not worried that people can see his mark?

“ _You met him?”_ He hears Harry ask. Harry? He is in the house. Zayn turns around and he can see Harry walking around the living room from where he is standing. 

The line goes quiet for a long while before he hears  _ "Hey guys, have any of you seen Louis?"  _ His breath catches in his throat. “ _ I don't know, haven't seen him since yesterday."  _ He hears his own voice come through the phone before it disconnects.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry Nick was mean. He will get better i promise.  
> This chapter was really short but they will get longer


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Look at me.” He hears Louis’ voice say.  
> “I’m not invisible. Look at me.”  
> “I’m right in front of you. Why won’t you look at me?”  
> “You can’t go on ignoring me for the rest on my life. Just talk to me please.”  
> “Nick! LOOK AT ME!” Louis screams and the call disconnects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so i have awful grammar. I used to ignore my teachers when they would be going over grammar. If my grammar is actually terrible feel free to tell me and ill attempt to fix it? but if its decent then hey go me! Niall isnt very..niall-y in this chapter. He has an awful back story though. He will get more niall-y though so dont worry. 
> 
> Also, i had this all typed out perfectly and my 4 yr old sister deleted the whole thing because i made her take a nap. so it might not be as good as i had it. sorry bout that.

Days pass and Nick goes on ignoring Louis’ existence. Louis tries talking to him on multiple occasions but he has started ignoring Louis when he was talking, looking right past him, generally acting like he was alone in the house. Louis is so sick of it. He hid all of Nicks favorite things in different places all over the house. _He will have to talk to me to get his things back. He wont be able to find them without asking me for them._ WhileLouis is trying to find a place to hide Nicks camera he thinks to himself, _Why even have a camera if you aren’t going to take any pictures?_ So he decides to take a picture of himself. _Maybe if he is mad enough he will yell at me._ Louis goes to the bathroom to check his hair.

He makes sure he looks perfect before going to his bed, turning the camera around and taking a picture. However, when he turns it back around to make sure its good enough there is a message. MEMORY FULL. Louis groans and starts going through the pictures, _I’ll delete one, just enough for me to have one picture in there and then I’ll hide it._ He goes through and the first few are pictures of things like an old coffee shop, a library, a house, and a park. When he goes further though, he finds something that makes his breath catch in his throat, he stares at the picture for a long time before he drops it on his floor. _No. No no no no. That doesn’t make sense._

He storms out of his room in search of Nick. “Nick! Where the hell are you?” He opens Nicks door to see Nick curled up under his blanket, his hair fanned out across the pillow, his face soft almost sweet. _Shit. Should I wake him up or should I wait until later?_ He climbs onto the bed next to Nick. “Hey,” He stroke a hand through Nicks hair. “Hey, wake up I need to ask you something.” Nick mumbles something and pushes closer to Louis.

“Nick, this is important.” Louis whispers, not wanting him to wake up all the way. He wants Nick to wake up just enough that he tells Louis everything. “Nick, its about your camera.” Nick sighs and scoots even closer. “If you broke it im going to murder you in your sleep princess.” Louis opens his mouth to reply then tilts his head to the side. “Do you know who I am?” He asks, amazed that Nick is pressed up against his legs, a miniscule content smile on his face. “No, I have amnesia.” Louis looks at him, confused. “Are you cuddling with my legs?”

Nick groans and opens his eyes, looking up at Louis. “Your legs are so squishy, I must have mistaken them for pillows.” Louis narrows his eyes. “Did you just call me fat?” Nick grins for a second before it drops as if he just realized where he was. “Get out” Louis stays where he is, pretending he didn’t hear what Nick said. “I want to ask you some questions. If you answer them, I will leave you alone and we can both die a peaceful death OK?” Nick raises an eyebrow. “OK, I will probably beg for my life and scream and cry and it will be the most unpeaceful thing ever.”

Nick sighs, “What? I don’t even have a camera here with us. What were you talking about?” He sits up against the head board. “What do you mean you don’t have a camera? I found one this morning. It’s not mine so it has to be yours” Nick looks at Louis for a long time. Louis starts to squirm under his gaze before Nick answers. “Bring it here princess. I’m sure I’ll know exactly who’s it is.” Louis nods, getting up to get the camera. He stops. “There are pictures on there. They don’t make sense. There is no way those should exist.” Nick nods his head and waves Louis away with his hand.

~*~*~*~*~

Zayn gets to Liams house in 2 minutes flat. He ran the whole way after hearing that thing on the phone. _I knew something was going on._ Liams mom opens the door. She smiles at Zayn, like nothing is wrong. As if something hasn’t happened to his best friend and he they haven’t had their mem o ry messed with. But of course she is acting as if nothings happened. To her, nothing _has_ happened. “Oh sweetie, Liam is in his room. I think he’s with a girl though, so why don’t you give them a minute?” Liam walks out then, grinning and it makes Zayns heart drop. _He was just having sex with someone else._ Danielle Peazer walks out of his room looking immaculate and Zayn starts to forget why he was there in the first place. He can only feel the jealousy blooming in his chest when Danielle leans close to him. “We were only talking. You don’t need to try to kill me with your eyes.” She pulls away from Zayn and smiles at Liam. She excuses herself from them, leaving Zayn, Liam, and Liams mom in the room. “Liam, can I talk to you?”

Liam grins at him and grabs his hand, pulling him towards his room. Zayn forgets why he is even at Liams house when Liam pushes him towards the bed and leans down to kiss him. By the time they are panting into each others mouths and rubbing together, Zayn can’t even remember his own name let alone why he came over in the first place. His phone rings, _Unknown Number._ He pushes Liams chest away. “Hello?”

“ _Look at me.”_ He hears Louis’ voice say.

“Lou? Is that you mate?”

“ _I’m not invisible. Look at me.”_

“What are you talking about? Where are you?”

“ _I’m right in front of you. Why won’t you look at me?”_

“Louis, I don’t know what you are talking about. You aren’t right in front of me.” Liam gives him a confused look and he puts it on speaker.

“ _You can’t go on ignoring me for the rest on my life. Just talk to me please.”_

“Louis, we are talking to you. What’s wrong?” Liam answers, instead of Zayn.

“ _Nick! LOOK AT ME!”_ Louis screams and the call disconnects. Zayn puts his phone down slowly. He looks at Liam, hoping that he doesn’t forget. Liam stares at the phone for a little while before looking up at Zayn. “Are you ok?” He asks, “You look scared. Is something wrong?” Zayn looks back at his phone. _Who the hell is Nick?_

~*~*~*~*~

Louis runs to his room to grab the camera. He goes to grab the camera off the floor but sees something out of the corner of his eye. There is a picture stuck onto his mirror. He walks over to it and staring back at him is a picture of someone that looks exactly like him, sitting in a chair next to Nick, who has on headphones and is sitting in front of a microphone. Louis’ head is thrown back with laughter and Nick has a smug look on his face. His eyes are shining with love as he looks at Louis and Louis had his ankles crossed around one of Nicks feet. Whoever else was in the room with them took the picture. But who was it? And why do they keep leaving these things around the house for Louis to find?

“What the hell is this?” He mutters to himself. He takes the camera and picture back into Nicks room. Nick is laying out on top of his covers with nothing except boxers on. Louis tries his hardest not to look, but his eyes slowly go over the lines of Nicks body. By the time they get to Nicks face he has a smug look on his face, much like the one in the picture that is in Louis’ hand.

Louis slowly walks over to the bed and when he gets there he fumbles before getting on. “This was stuck onto my mirror.” He says quietly, not wanting to disturb the silence that was filling the house. Nick takes it from him carefully, pushing himself onto his elbows. He looks at the picture for a long time before he putting it down slowly and looking up at Louis. “It’s fake. Where is the camera.” His voice has gone cold again. Louis hands him the camera and he looks at the little screen for a minute before he starts to scroll through the pictures, each one he looks at for longer than the last. By the time he puts it down on the bed he has tears in his eyes that he has to blink away.

Each one of those pictures are of Nick and Louis. Some they are kissing, some they are just giggling into each others mouths. Some they are both grinning into the camera, others one of them is grinning while the other is pouting, glaring, making faces, or kissing the others cheek. They are all obviously couples pictures but where did they come from? Louis looks a couple years older than 21 and Nick looks younger than he is now. Louis waits for Nick to say something about them. Anything. “Get out.” Louis’ eyes widen and he opens his mouth to say something rude but gets cut off. “Now Louis. I do not want to deal with your god damn questions right now. Leave.”

Louis gets up and leaves the room. He doesn’t go far. He sits in the hallway outside of Nicks room, knees curled up to his chest. His whole body hurts as he sits alone in the hallway. His chest and belly are burning. They feel like he has lit himself on fire. Louis squeezes his eyes shut, _Fuck, what the hell is happening?_ His eyes start to spill tears. _Fuck, I think im dying._ He tries to call Nick but his voice is gone. _Shit._ He tries to stand himself up but he ends up falling over. Nick walks out of the room. “Louis? What the fuck?” He bends down to look at Louis’ face and Louis sees Nicks chest glowing under his shirt before he blacks out.

~*~*~*~*~

Zayn sits on Liams floor, trying to tell him about whats been happening. _I_ _don’t_ _want to do this if he is just going to forget._ “Liam, have you talked to Louis?” Liam raises an eyebrow. “Louis? Tomlinson?” Zayn looks at Liam for a long time, trying to figure out if he is kidding. “Of course Tomlinson. What other Louis’ do we know?” Liam gives Zayn a worried look. “Do you know him then? I thought you _had_ to be partnered up with him.” He pouts a little and Zayn hasn’t seen him look like that since they were kids and Liam thought Louis was trying to steal Zayn away from him. “What are you talking about? Louis is your best friend.” Liam scrunches up his nose. “Zayn, why would I be friends with him? He used to pick on me.” Zayn shakes his head. Liam and Louis now pick on other people together. Zayn pulls at his hair, frustrated. _Niall. Niall is smarter than people give him credit for._

~*~*~*~*~

Niall Horan, subject 232677, was part of the same experiments as Zayn. Niall, however, didn’t ever say anything because as a kid, he was told over and over that he was crazy. His parents would scold him for saying something didn’t make sense or for saying that something the council did was wrong. After a while he started ignoring it. He would find things about how people once had free will. They could do whatever they wanted. They could marry whoever they wanted. He wants that. He used to talk about it all the time until his parents yelled at him. They told him he was too old to believe all these stories.

He remembers seeing Louis at the ceremony. He remembers the golden mark that poked out of his shirt like flames licking up his neck. He hasn’t said anything about it because he knows whoever he asks will just forget about it anyways.

He is lounging on his couch when someone bangs on his door. He groans, not wanting to get up. “Come in” He yells towards the door. Zayn pokes his head in. “Hey,” He says quietly, nervously. Niall studies him for a minute before sitting up. “Whats up mate?” Niall asks, smiling softly. Zayn bites his lip. He starts pacing around in front of Niall and Niall watches, silently. _He remembers so_ _mething._ “Do you remember Lou?” He asks out of no where. Niall raises an eyebrow before he nods slowly. “ Ok, so like, we’re friends with him. He is my best mate.” Niall watches Zayn with a worried look. “Yes Zayn. He has been your best mate for years. Is there a point to this?” Zayn lets out a breath. He sits on the couch next to Niall and gives him an exhausted look. He begins to look around frantically. “Are you looking for something?” He snaps his head up. “Louis!” He yells suddenly. Niall leans back amused. _What has Zayn been taking?_ “What about him?”

Zayn gets a frustrated look before he starts talking. “I think he is missing and ive been getting these weird phone calls all day and I think he might have found his soul mate and got his mark early but I don’t know how and no one remembers anything I say and it is driving me insane. Liam thinks we don’t even talk to Louis and harry thought I was ignoring his stories.” He takes a breath and Niall nods slowly. “Ok” he says. _I knew he remembered something._ “You’re right. Louis did get his mark early. He got dragged away by some guards at the ceremony for Cassie the other day.” Zayns jaw drops. His face goes through so many emotions. _What has he been going through? He looks so worn out. Zayn is usually so calm and collected._ “You remembered and you didn’t say anything?” He sounds frustrated and Niall gets it, he does but he is so tired of people calling him crazy that he wasn’t going to go through that again when there was nothing he could do about it anyways.

“I would have but I wasn’t really in the mood to be called names. You have it easy. People forget what you say. They remember what I say and they call me crazy. They say I should be locked up or that maybe the council should put me down already. Like im a dog. So no” Niall leans close to his face, “im not going to say anything about something I have no control over.” Zayn bites his lip. He was always so scared to piss somebody off. Niall immediately feels awful but he ignores the feeling. People used to always want to be around him. He could become friends with anybody, until word got out that he was saying crazy stuff. Zayn curls his knees up to his chest. Niall wants to apologize. He opens his mouth to but his phone starts ringing. _Unknown Number._ Niall looks at it for a long time. _Should I answer it with Zayn here?_ Zayn grabs it and answers it for him, putting it on speaker.

“ _Listen to me.”_ Louis says into the phone quietly. So quietly that they almost don’t hear it. _“Why won’t you just listen to me? I don’t want to die.”_ Zayn starts to bite his nails. _“Please. I cant keep this up forever. I need you or they are going to kill me too. Please just say something. Say anything.”_

“ _Leave me alone.”_ Some other guys voice comes through the phone. _“They are going to kill us either way. Leave me alone so I can at least die without hearing your fucking voice all day.”_

“ _Nick.”_ Louis sobs though the line. Niall has been hearing this same thing all day. Louis cried for hours the first time before Niall hung up the phone, cheeks streaked with tears. Zayn listens to it, tears running down his face before Niall takes the phone out of his hand. He pulls the battery out and stuffs it between the cushions.

“He is hurt.” Zayn says it quietly. Niall shrugs, getting up and walking to the kitchen. He starts pulling out random snacks, comfort foods, before Zayn follows him in. “I need to help him.” Niall looks at him for a second. “How? Are you going to storm up to the council and demand that you see him? They’ll erase your memory. Or worse they will punish you. Maybe even Louis since he is the reason you are planning to rebel.” Zayn bites his lip. “I have to do something.”

Niall nods, “I get it. I have wanted to help people before too, but that will just get everyone in trouble. Stay here for a couple days. We’ll figure something out.” Zayn agrees quietly. “Do you think he’s ok?” Niall hesitates before shaking his head. “I know he isn’t.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so the phone things are actually half based off these phone calls i keep getting. These people will ask for a guy named Derek. And im always like sorry, no derek here. and this dude goes "Babe, i got it. Put the phone down." Im like wtf? Im alone in my house? This is the only phone in the house? (I just moved in like, a couple weeks ago.) And he actually gets frustrated if i argue. One time i was like sorry, and i set the phone on the counter before picking it back up and he was like 'sorry, she is having one of her episodes. She doesnt even remember me.' I swear to god i thought i was dreaming. I counted all my fingers and toes like 8 times just to be sure. I am positive im not crazy. I had to call my mom and she was like wtf? I dont answer the phone anymore unless my brothers are with me because im scared im going to end up realizing that i am crazy and i do in fact know a guy named derek. 
> 
> Sorry bout that little ramble i just thought other people should know that my house is getting creepy ass phone calls!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Why do you get mad when I ask about soul mate stuff? And why do you say I wasn’t supposed to be your soul mate?” Nick opens his mouth to say something but Louis cuts him off. “Also, how have you seen someone get a new soul mate? That is impossible. I know that for a fact.”
> 
> “You get one question. That is all I will answer today.” Louis thinks about it for a long time. “Why are there pictures of us that shouldn’t be possible?”

_195 YEARS AGO_

“Nick, I can’t find my car keys.” Louis shouts across the house to Nick, who is curled up in bed. “How am I supposed to leave without them?” Nick doesn’t answer him so he walks over to the room. Nick is turned away from Louis. Louis crawls up on the bed and sits next to Nick. “Babe, the faster I leave the faster I can come back.” Nick rolls to the other side of the bed. “That isn’t true. You are going to be gone for ages either way.” Louis sighs.

“How about, I’ll bring you back something nice if you give me my keys.” Nick pouts. He gets like this every time Louis has to go away to film stuff. Eventually Nick gives him his keys and Louis grabs his coat before there is a knock at the door.

Louis opens it, assuming its one of Nicks friends, coming to comfort him. The council stands before him “You have committed a crime punishable by death. Where is your boy?” Louis opens his mouth to ask what they are going on about. _I have never committed any kind of crime._

Nick walks over to the door. “Whats going on?” The council takes Nick and carries him off to their cars faster than Louis can even register it. “Wait-whats going on? Why are you taking him? Where is he going?” The head council woman glares at Louis. “What are you going to do with him?” The council woman looks at him for a long time before she swipes her hand across his head and he blocks out.

Louis wakes up as a small child. An orphan, with no recollection of where he is or who he is.

~*~*~*~*~

_Present_

Louis wakes up on Nicks bed. Nick is sleeping in a chair next to the bed, top half of his body rested on the bed. Louis looks at him in amazement for a long time. _For someone who hates me, you sure do act like you care about me._

He pokes Nicks cheek. “Hey,” Nick mumbles something unintelligible. “Hey, wake up.” Nick jumps up looking at Louis alarmed. His eyes scan over Louis face, looking for any sign of pain. Louis smiles at him and he relaxes. “You’re OK?” Nick asks, almost a whisper. Louis nods whispering yes as an afterthought.

Nick sighs and runs his hand through his hair. “You had me a bit worried. It looked like you were dying. No one from the council came to help. I know they were watching it happen.” Louis doesn’t say anything. He scratches the back of his head before he remembers seeing Nicks chest glowing.

He reaches forward, pulling on Nicks shirt. Nick seems to understand. He takes off his shirt and Louis looks at his torso in amazement. Golden swirls lick down his body like flames, going just above his pants. Louis looks down at himself.

He pulls his shirt out looking inside. Identical marks cover his torso. “Why are our marks taking so long to appear? I thought they are supposed to show up all at once.” Nick shrugs and looks away. “Maybe the system is flawed.” Louis nods. Aren’t _all systems flawed?_

“I’ll make some dinner, if you want to hang out with me or something.” Nick says quietly, and Louis grins. “I would love to.”

~*~*~*~*~

_C’mon,_ Louis thinks to himself, _its just a date. Just a date with the guy you have to spend the rest of your life with. No big deal._ He bites his lip as he looks in the mirror. His hair is artfully done into a quiff. He has on a blue button up and black jeans. _You look fine. It probably isn’t even a date. Its just him not being an ass anymore._ He walks out into the dining area just as Nick is setting their plates down. He looks at Louis with a grin. “How’s it, princess?”

Louis narrows his eyes at Nick. “Shut up.” Nicks grin gets even wider. His eyes sparkle at Louis before he looks away, “I uh, made pasta.” Louis glances at Nick. “Thanks,” He says quietly. Nick won’t look at him. He sits down across from Nick. Nick watches him silently, “You do this a lot then?” He asks with a small smile on his face. “Not at all, doll face.” His smirk comes back.

~*~*~*~*~

“Zayn, do you reckon Harry fancies me?” Zayn rolls over in the bed he is sharing with Niall so that he is facing him. “Are you kidding?” Niall looks at him with wide eyes. Zayn sighs, _I can’t believe we are doing this._ “Yes, he makes it painfully obvious too.” Niall looks away, a blush covering his cheeks, noticeable even in the dark.

Niall scoots closer to Zayn. “Do you-” Niall gets cut off by the sound of both of their phones going off. They are playing the same thing. _You have committed a crime punishable by death._ They look at each other. Their phones are on speaker so it echos through out the room.

Static buzzes through the phone before there are screams. _Let him go!_ A man screams and they can hear Louis sobbing _He hasn’t done anything!_ The mans voice echos through the phone.

There is more static. They can hear Louis singing. _I have died everyday waiting for you._ Niall and Zayn look at each other. What in the world? _Darling don’t be afraid I have loved you for a thousand years._ Niall reaches out for his laptop. He starts typing in what Louis is singing. _Princess, I should be the one singing that not you. Louis giggles, you should but you have the voice of a dying cat._

Zayn and Niall give each other a questioning look. _Hey now, we can’t all be pop stars._ The phone s disconnect and Niall pulls up the lyrics that Louis was singing. “This song is from over 200 years ago.” He opens up the song and a girls voice flows through the room. Zayn looks back at his phone. _Why was Louis singing something from that long ago?_

~*~*~*~*~

Weeks pass, Nick has mostly stopped randomly going cold. He does, however, stop mid sentence and stare at Louis. Louis just raises his eyebrow and waits until Nick finishes what he was saying. “Nick,” Louis says one day while they are sitting on the couch watching some awful movie Nick said was his favorite.

Nick glances at him for a fraction of a second before looking back at the screen. “Hey Nick,” Louis pokes Nicks side with his toes. Nick ignores him. “Nick, I know you can hear me.” Nick sighs exasperatedly. “Yes, I’m ignoring you because I am trying to watch a movie.”

Louis gets onto his knees and crawls into Nicks space. “Nick, I want to ask you something.” Nick pauses the movie and looks at Louis. “Don’t get mad and storm off OK?”

Nick stays quiet. “Why do you get mad when I ask about soul mate stuff? And why do you say I wasn’t supposed to be your soul mate?” Nick opens his mouth to say something but Louis cuts him off. “Also, how have you seen someone get a new soul mate? That is impossible. I know that for a fact.”

“You get one question. That is all I will answer today.” Louis thinks about it for a long time. “Why are there pictures of us that shouldn’t be possible?”

Nick stays quiet for a long time. “If I answer that they’ll take you away again.” Louis wants to ask, but by the look on Nicks face he knows better. “You aren’t supposed to be my soul mate. The council keeps telling me that. Now, we just need to believe it.” He gets up quietly and Louis watches as he walks out of the living room and into his bedroom.

_They’ll take you away again._ Louis sits there, hearing that over and over in his head. He sits there for a couple hours trying to figure out what he meant. They’ll _take you away again._ Who? And why did they take him away in the first place?  
~*~*~*~*~

_180 years ago_

“I won’t let them take you this time.” Louis wraps his arms tighter around Nick. “I can’t keep going through this.” Louis lets his tears fall free and they get on Nicks shirt. “I feel like I die a little bit every time.” Louis leans up and kisses Nick. Its wet and gross because they are both crying now. “I’m so sorry.” Louis sobs into Nicks neck and Nick holds him. “Its not your fault little duck. It’ll be OK.” He rubs Louis’ back, “It’ll be OK.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter is probably going to take a while to be put up so sorry in advance


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I figured someone should come check on you guys.”   
> There’s a pause.   
> “We’re fine. You can go back to plotting to destroy the world or whatever it is you do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! I said i wasn't going to post another chapter for a while but at like 3 in the morning i was watching some random movie and all of a sudden i was like "I know what needs to come next." So, i spent the next 2 hours writing this and then it was time for me to get ready for work. So i didn't sleep at all. You guys better appreciate this.

Nick avoids Louis for a week. Its actually amazing considering they are stuck in a house together without anyway out. Louis finally gets sick of it and storms to Nicks room. He slams open the door and sees Nick sitting on the floor, a piece of the wood floor pulled out and a box laid next to it.

Louis walks towards Nick. “Stop,” Louis freezes where he is. “You can’t look at these. I can’t let you.” I’m _getting real tired of your cryptic shit._ He waits for Nick to put them back in the box and he turns to Louis. “What do you want? I’m busy.” Louis scoffs, “Yeah looking at pictures, you are soo busy.”

Nick just looks at Louis. “You need to start explaining stuff. I don’t care if you think something will happen to me. Some magical being is not going to burst through that door to take me away.”

Nicks eyes go dark and he turns his face away from Louis, tugging on his hair. “No one is going to drag me away right?” Nick shrugs, still not looking at Louis. “Oh god, im going to be dragged away for asking too many questions. I’m going to die. Oh god.” Nick rolls his eyes and looks back at Louis. “Don’t be so over dramatic, doll.”

Louis looks at him for a second, stopping his panicking to really take in Nicks expression. He looks so fond, but also hurt and scared. Louis smiles reassuringly. Nick gets up off the floor and walks past Louis, “Are we doing dinner then? Or should I let you continue your panicking first?” Louis watches him, baffled.

_Did he not just ignore me for a week?_ Nick pokes his head in. “If you hurry, I might answer some questions. I think its about time you know whats going on.” Louis gets excited at that. _Wait, I though he said someone will take me away if I know too much._ “Telling me cryptic answers isn’t really answering my questions!” He shouts to Nick as he starts walking down the hall to the kitchen.

He stops in his tracks as he sees one of the Council members standing in the kitchen. She smiles at him.

“Hi,” He squeaks out after standing there with his mouth hanging open for a few minutes. She raises an eyebrow at him. “It’s nice to meet you. Uh, again. I mean, we didn’t really meet before. You just kind of threatened me before this guy got dragged in. Not that I’m complaining or anything. It was totally ok. I’m pretty sure you don’t care what I think either way. I-” Nick walks behind Louis and covers his mouth. “Stop your babbling, princess. You aren’t helping.” Louis’ eyes widen and the clamps his mouth shut. “Hi,” She says.

Her voice is beautiful. Its quiet but strong. Not high, but not low either. “My name is Grace Blythe.” They both stay silent, waiting for her to continue talking. She reaches up and pulls on one of her long blonde curls. “I figured someone should come check on you guys.” There’s a pause. “We’re fine. You can go back to plotting to destroy the world or whatever it is you do.”

Her eyes widen at Nicks words. “I, uh, I’m not sure what you mean.” Her big blue eyes actually look hurt by the accusation. Louis gapes at Nick. “ _Nick, don’t_ be rude.” Nick rolls his eyes and walks out. Grace pouts a little before looking at Louis with a small smile. “I really was just concerned about you guys. I can take you guys out of the house for a couple hours if you want.” Louis gets excited at that. He hasn’t been outside in a couple months and he feel like he is going crazy.

“Really? You’ll take us out? Can I go see my family? Can I see my friends?” Grace bites her lip. “I can’t let you see your family, but you can see your friends.” Louis scrunches up his nose in distaste. He really misses his family, a whole lot more than he misses his friends.

~*~*~*~*~

Louis agrees nonetheless and after about an hour of bugging Nick he convinces Nick to go with him. Grace says they have to stay with her the whole time they are out or they could get in trouble with the rest of the council.

Louis goes to see Harry first. Harry has been his best friend for ages. He knocks on the door and Liam answers. Louis jumps on Liam wrapping his legs around Liams waist and his arms around Liams neck. Liam pats his back awkwardly, instead of hugging back like he normally would. Louis gets back to his feet and looks at Liams stunned face. “Is Harry home?” He starts to walk passed Liam but Liam grabs his arm. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” Louis looks up at him, confused.

“What do you mean Payno?” Liam narrows his eyes at Louis. “You aren’t welcome here.” Louis stumbles back from the force of Liams tone. He has never heard Liam sound that cold. “You think you can come to Harry’s house? For what? You don’t think you bully him enough at school? You have to do it here too?” Louis gapes at Liam. _Bully….Harry?_

Nick snickers behind Louis. “Looks like you aren’t as loved as you thought princess, if they just forgot about you.” Louis flips off Nick without turning around to look at him. Harry walks up then. He looks at Louis for a second before his eyes widen and he seems to shrink in on himself. “Why are you here?” He asks in a shaky voice. Louis opens his mouth to say something but nothing comes out. “Princess, nothing good is going to come of this. Let’s leave.” Louis looks at Nick with tear-filled eyes. Nicks smirk drops immediately.

Louis looks at Harry and Liam. He reaches out for Harry and Harry flinches. Louis stumbles backwards into Nick, his chest hurting. His mark feels like it’s on fire again. Grace wraps her hand around his wrist and pulls him out of the way right before Liam slams the door. Louis stands there staring at the door for a while before Grace tugs him to the sidewalk. They stay silent walking down the street. They come to a complete stop and Louis looks up, realizing that they are standing outside of Nialls house.

Louis turns and looks at Nick. “I don't want to go through that again.” Nick puts his hand on the small of Louis’ back. “We are right here. If anything goes wrong, we’ll leave. We can go to that park down the road. You can show me how amazing you are at football.” Louis smiles. He turns towards the door. _I can do this. It’s just Niall. He doesn’t get bullied by anyone especially me. It’ll be ok._ He raises his hand to knock but the door swings open. Zayn is standing there gaping at Louis. “Why the fuck are you just standing in the door? That isn’t how you get food Zayn.” Niall comes up behind Zayn when Zayn doesn’t say anything back.

“Well what the fuck are you doing standing outside? Get in here.” Niall says, snapping Zayn out of his trance. Zayn bursts through the doorway and wraps himself around Louis. “ _You're ok._ ” He breathes into Louis' neck. Niall steps behind Zayn and wraps his arms around both of them. They stay like that for a while before Niall pulls away and drags them inside. Nick and Grace follow silently. Zayn keeps looking at Louis like he is a gift sent from heaven. Let’s be honest, he is. “Who’s this then?” Niall asks after a while, gesturing to Nick and Grace.

“Oh, this is Nick, my soul mate.” He tugs Nick forward. “That, is Grace Blythe. She’s part of the Council.” Niall and Zayn both look at her suspiciously. “How do you guys remember him?” She asks. Louis looks over at her. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t they?” Nick rolls his eyes at Louis. “The council messes with peoples memories. Why do you think Harry and that other guy with the muscles thought you were there to bully them?”

Louis looks over at Grace, who is frowning slightly. “We do what we need to. Liam and Harry would have caused a riot. Especially Harry.” Nick makes a noise, kind of like a kicked puppy. Niall shrugs, “We just do. It seems your little council can’t mess with my memories like you thought.” Grace hums quietly. “And you Zayn?” Zayn shrugs. “I just do.”

She sits quietly, while they talk. They talk about the mark covering half of Louis’ torso, the house Louis is being locked in, etc. While Niall and Zayn are talking about the phone calls they are getting, their phones ring.

_Louis? Where are you?_ Nicks voice sounds through the phone and they all turn to look at him.

_Nick? Nick, where did you go? Louis’_ voice calls back.

_Louis William Tomlinson!_

_Nicholas Peter Grimshaw!_

There is a chuckle from Nick and a giggle from Louis. It’s quiet and Louis squeals before bursting out laughing.

They both laugh for a long time before they are left taking short breaths and small giggles.

_I love you Louis._

_I love you too, Nick._

There is static for a long time before, _No! Louis’_ voice screams through the phone. _Nick!_ He screams, its bloodcurdling. _Let him go! Please!_ Louis sobs into the line. Nick runs out of the house.

There is more static. _Mommy,_ a little voice says, _I think I had a soul mate dream. He was perfect. He had really funny hair and he loved me lots and he was kind of mean sometimes but I was kind of mean back. It was ok though because we always said sorry._ The line disconnects and they all stare at it. Louis and Grace jump up to find Nick.

Nick is sitting outside on the grass, turned away from Louis. His knees are curled to his chest. His shoulders are shaking. Louis walks up to him, resting a hand on his shoulder. He can hear Nick make a little whining noise. Louis sits next to him and tries to wrap his arms around his shoulders. Nick turns and curls into Louis. They sit there for a long while before Grace tells them they have to leave.

They go back inside, saying goodbye to Zayn and Niall. When Nick and Louis are halfway out the door, Grace leans in between Zayn and Niall and whispers something quietly. Their eyes widen and they look at each other before nodding and walking to a different part of the house together.

~*~*~*~*~

They get back to their house quickly and Grace is pulling on her curls. “I'm sorry about that.” Louis doesn’t say anything in response. “I honestly didn’t know that would happen. I don’t know what that phone call was about, but I will try to help fix it.”

“What did you say to them?” Graces eyes widen. “When?” She asks quickly. “Before we left. You whispered something to them. What did you say?” She shakes her head and looks away. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.” Louis doesn’t say anything. “I will take you guys out again soon.” Louis shakes his head. “Don’t bother.”

She disappears in a cloud of smoke.

Louis goes to Nicks room, where Nick is curled up on his bed. Louis crawls in to the bed with him and Nick curls into him. Nick cries himself to sleep, with Louis rubbing his back. _How do I get him to explain what the hell that was without making him cry anymore?_

_~*~*~*~*~_

“Go look in your attic. I put something there for you guys. It’ll help you figure all this out.” Grace whispers quietly to Niall and Zayn, as they wave goodbye to Louis and his soul mate.

They immediately go to the attic. The attic is completely cleaned out except for a chest. They open it and inside is all kinds of random shit.

On the top, is a book. There is no title on it or decorations or anything. It’s a big black book. They open it and the whole thing is written in some other language. “What are we supposed to do with this?” Niall and Zayn look at each other questioningly. “Time to do research.” Zayn says, flipping through the pages of the book.

“Yeah,” Niall agrees, “Lots and lots of research.”

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick has a look in his eyes, like he is reliving it all over again. “It didn’t hurt us to be separated. Isn’t that weird?” Nick closes his eyes for a minute and sits there quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, i was totally kidding about appreciating it! But thank you guys so much for your comments! I absolutely love reading your comments! 
> 
> This also turned out...completely different from how i had it planned. I didn't see this coming.

Louis wakes up with a jolt. Nick is sitting up next to him breathing hard and shaking. Louis sits up, putting his hand on Nicks shoulder. Nick glances at him, “Sorry, did I wake you? I can go to the other room.” Louis shakes his head. “It’s ok. Stay.” Nick looks at Louis and he notices Nick has tears running down his face. “What happened?”

Nick shakes his head. “Nothing, its nothing.” Louis rubs his back. “It was just a bad dream is all. I’m ok.” Louis hums in response. “I’m fine. I can go to the other room if im keeping you up.” Louis shakes his head again. “I am fine. You, however, are not. Do you want to talk about it?”

Nick looks down at his lap. “Not really,” He whispers after a while. Louis stays quiet, not knowing what to do or say. “Can I just, lay with you for a while?” Louis nods. They both lay down and Nick turns and looks at Louis. Louis turns to face him. “Hi,” Nick whispers.

“Hi,” Louis whispers back. Nick smiles at him. “I missed you,” Nick whispers, so quietly that Louis isn’t even sure that’s what he said. Nick leans forward and kisses Louis. Its a small soft kiss, mostly just a brush of the lips but it has Louis’ heart racing. He pulls back and smiles again. Louis reaches out and touches Nicks cheek with his fingertips.

Nicks eyes drop shut but his small smile stays in place.

~*~*~*~*~

The next time Louis wakes up, its to the sun in his face. _Who the hell opened the curtains?_ Louis sits up and notices the bed is empty. _Where did that boy go?_ He gets out of bed and goes to the living room. Nick is laying on the couch watching some  TVshow that everyone is into. “Hey,” Louis says quietly. Nick looks over at him and Louis notices the bags under his eyes, dark and prominent. 

Nick sits up and pats the couch next to him for Louis to sit. “Did you go back to sleep last night?” Louis asks, putting his hand into Nicks hair. Nick shakes his head. “What happened last night?” Nick looks at Louis, studying his face. “It was just a bad dream.” Louis raises an eyebrow at him.

“It was a bad memory, is all.” Louis hums quietly.

“What was it about?” Nick stays silent. “I mean, obviously you don’t have to tell me.” Nick rolls his eyes. “It was the first time I lost you.” Louis’ eyes widen. _How many times has he lost me?_

“We were both famous. The council didn’t let us tell anyone we were soul mates, so we had our marks covered up by makeup artists. We did what they said because they threatened our families. You had 4 sisters.” Nicks eyes start to water.

“You were so close with them. They loved you so much. The council took us both away from our families, even after we obeyed everything they said. When we ran away to see them, they didn’t remember who we were. _They thought we were just crazy drug addicts._ The council found us and they separated us.”

Nick has a look in his eyes, like he is reliving it all over again. “It didn’t hurt us to be separated. Isn’t that weird?” Nick closes his eyes for a minute and sits there quietly.

When he opens them back up a few moments later he continues, “They got frustrated that we weren’t hurting like we should have been for disobeying them. They sent us both back to the councils ‘super secret lair’. That’s what you called it.” He smiles at the memory before his smile drops again.

“You talked back so much.” He looks at Louis. “Why can you never shut up?”

Louis opens his mouth to reply with something sarcastic but Nick covers his mouth. “Shut up, you stupid pop star.” Louis looks at him, confused, but he just continues. “They took you and tortured you because you wouldn’t shut your goddamn mouth.” He pauses again, trying to steady his breathing. “They were hoping I would be able to feel it but I couldn’t. It hurt me anyways, to see you hurting. There was nothing I could do to stop them.” He cups Louis’ face in his hand.

“There was nothing I could do to help you.” He strokes Louis’ cheek with his thumb before dropping his hand.

“They tortured you until there was nothing left of you. Then, they did something to you. They made you six years old again. They repressed your memories. I have stayed this age. I can’t age again until we are the same age. Whenever they decide to stop messing with you.”

~*~*~*~*~

“Why has Zayn been staying at your place?” Harry asks Niall with a pout. Niall rolls his eyes. “He is going through some things right now.” Harry crawls across the couch and into Nialls space. “Yeah? Like what?” Niall laughs, pushing him away. “I’m not telling you.”

Harry pouts at Niall for a while, before he slinks away. He sits at the other end of the couch with his arms crossed at Niall. Niall looks over at him with a smile. “Why are you being like that?” He asks, laughing at Harry.

Harry sticks his bottom lip out even further. Niall leans over and catches Harry’s bottom lip between his own. Harry pushes into Niall, until Niall is laying back on the couch and he is straddling Nialls thighs. He bites on Nialls lower lip when the front door swings open.

Harry jumps off Niall in shock. Zayn’s eyes widen, “I am so sorry. I can come back later.” He says in a rush. Harry sighs.

“Don’t bother.” He gets up, getting his stuff to leave. “I’ll see you later Niall.” He glares at Zayn without saying anything to him. He leaves slamming the door after himself.

“I’m so sorry.” Zayn says with an apologetic look on his face. Niall shakes his head. “It’s ok. He will get over it.” Zayn bites his lip looking down at his shoes. Niall gets up and stands in front of him. When he doesn’t look at Niall, Niall puts his hand on Zayns cheek to tilt his head back so he will look at him. Of course that is when Harry decides to burst back into the house.

Harry looks at them with betrayal in his eyes. “I came back for my phone, but don’t mind me. Please, continue what you were doing.” Niall watches him storm out _again_ with an eyebrow raised. “We aren’t even official.” Niall says with a small laugh.

Zayn blushes, “Me and Liam aren’t official either. He said he doesn’t want to get his hopes up just in case we aren’t soul mates.” Niall shakes his head fondly. Liam is trying to protect both of them by making both of them suffer. That is so Liam.

“You should probably go after Harry.” Zayn says quietly. Niall shakes his head. “You came in here pretty frantically. What happened?”

Zayn bites his lip, trying to remember why he burst through the house. Zayn has been forgetting things more often, and he needs Niall to remind him something is wrong before it all comes back to him. “Oh!” He says excitedly. He reaches into his messenger bag that he carries around with him all the time. He pulls out the book they had found in that old chest. “This, it’s written in archaic Latin.”

Niall stays silent, waiting for Zayn to finish. “Its a language that hasn’t been used since god knows when.” He says it like that, but he probably knows the exact date it was last spoken. “How are we supposed to know what it means if it’s in a language no one speaks anymore?”

Zayn grins, “That’s the thing. I learned archaic Latin.” Niall gives him a confused look, “How long have you known it was archaic Latin? You have only been gone a few hours.” Zayn gives him an exasperated look in return, “Yeah, I’ve only known for about 3 and a half hours. Why would I keep that from you?”

Niall takes a minute to register what he just said. “I thought you said you learned archaic Latin. As in, enough of it to read this book.” Zayn nods. “I did, I mastered it.”

_How is anyone this smart?_ “You mastered an entire language in a couple hours?” Zayn rolls his eyes. “Yes, it took up a lot of my time. Now, do you want to know what the book says or not?” 

~*~*~*~*~

“So, basically you’re like ancient and im young. That’s pretty creepy.” Nick gives Louis and annoyed look. “You’re practically a pedophile.” He says, amused. Nick turns to Louis. “I just told you that I lose you every time I get you and all you got out of it was that I’m a pedophile?” Louis nods happily.

“You are a grade a freak.” Nick shakes his head, getting up and going to the kitchen. Louis follows him. “Were you looking for me? At the ceremony?” Nick turns from the fridge where he is looking for food to give Louis an annoyed look. “No,” He says before turning back to the fridge.

“So why were you there?” Nick shrugs. “How _old_ are you?” Nick starts making food, ignoring Louis. “Are you like ancient? Like, 60?” Nick laughs, “I’m 26, princess. Get me some plates.” Louis does it, even though Nick doesn’t need them yet. He just wanted to distract Louis. It doesn’t work. “How long have you been 26?” Louis asks seriously. He doesn’t understand why Nick starts laughing at him and doesn’t stop, even after the food almost burns. 

Louis pouts at Nick. Nick, however, doesn’t notice because he is to busy laughing at some joke Louis doesn’t understand. Nick pulls Louis back to the living room after handing him his plate. He pushes Louis onto the couch and runs to his room. Louis sits on the couch completely confused.

_My soul mate has lost his damn mind. I have actually broken him._ Nick comes back out with a handful of movies. He puts one on with a gleeful expression. The word  _Twilight_ shows up on the screen and Louis scrunches up his nose in distaste. “How old is this movie?” Nick shrugs, “Like 200 years or so.” This used to be some quality shit.” Louis looks back at the screen and Nick starts chuckling quietly. 

Louis starts to complain but halfway through his first complaint his head feels like its on fire. It is too much for him. He puts his head between his legs and he can faintly hear Nick saying something to him. He feels Nicks hand on his back, before he blacks out.

_Louis pushes Nick onto the couch. “You are going to watch this and you are going to like it.” Nick whines as Louis puts the movie in. “This is your own fault.” Nick sighs but gives in when Louis sits on his lap._

_The movie starts and Nick is starting to whine again. Louis wiggles in his lap and shushes him. Nick quiets down a little bit but he starts stroking Louis’ thighs. Louis is having none of that. “Nicholas Peter Grimshaw, keep your grubby paws off the goods.”_

_Nick stops for about 2 minutes before he starts up again. “Louis, im horny.” Louis turns to look at him. “We haven’t even gotten to the best part yet.” Nick pouts at him. “Is this movie turning you on?” Louis asks with joy in his voice. His eyes are lit up in the best way._

“ _No, all of your wiggling is doing it.” Louis looks at him skeptically. “You are into Bella single expression aren’t you?” Nick rolls his eyes, not bothering to answer._

_Louis grins and turns to straddle Nick. “You are just trying to get out of watching this movie aren’t you?”_

_Nick smiles at him. “Is it working?” Louis leans forward, his lips brushing against Nicks. He slowly closes his eyes, breathing in all of Nick, before jumping up and sitting on the other side of the couch. “We are not missing the best part.”_

_Nick whines but eventually gives in because Louis always gets what he wants. Even if Nick pretends to hate whatever it is. “How old are you?” Louis says along with Bella on screen. “17” He says in a low voice, making Nick laugh. “How long have you been 17?” He asks with a high pitches voice, making Nick go into hysterics. Nick loves when Louis can talk along with actors on a movie. He loves the voices Louis gives all of the characters. They are always different and never go with the character._

_Louis grins at Nick. “You nerd. I knew you liked watching this movie.” Nick shakes his head. “I like watching you watch the movie.”_

_Louis blushes but acts like it doesn’t affect him. “That’s because you’re a fucking creep.” He says it with a small fond smile so Nick knows he actually enjoys it._

Louis jumps up with a jolt, feeling like he was struck by lightening. Nick makes a girly shriek from where he was walking in from the kitchen. Louis looks at him for a long time before he laughs, “You are actually the biggest sap I have ever seen.” Nick gives him a confused look. “You don’t even like this movie. You put it on because I liked it. Like, 200 years ago.” Nick opens his mouth, probably to come up with some bullshit excuse.

“Don’t try to bullshit me. You love me. How sweet.” Nick rolls his eyes at that. “I only love you for your money.” He says with his nose pointed up. Louis gets confused, “Yeah, I make so much money working at a bakery with Harry, not really doing anything.” Nick purses him lips before shaking his head and handing Louis the cup of tea he was holding.

~*~*~*~*~

Niall and Zayn go to Nialls room to go through the book without being interrupted. Zayn has a lot of note in the margins in the same language the book was written in “So no one but us knows what it says” Niall shakes his head at Zayn. “It takes normal people years to master a new language. I’m never going to know how to read this.” Zayn sighs exasperated, “I’ll tell you what it says then.”

The beginning tells a story, about two people who’s love was so powerful that it changed the world. They were the first soul mates. They met and golden marks covered their bodies. Every time they kissed, the air around them would change.

It gave everyone a chance to find their soul mates. The council never got soul mates. They would breathe in the air left from the soul mates being but it never brought their mates. Envious of the two, they learned a powerful kind of witchcraft. They erased eveyones minds of the two and took them away from everyone around them. They locked them away from the world.

The story talks about how they went through awful things. They were both hung in the middle of the biggest city in the world, every time one of the talked back he would be whipped.

The other one begged him to stop but he said it was better being hurt then having his love hurt. They were hung there for days with no food or water, before one of the council took pity on them. They were taken down but everyone was convinced _they_ were witches.

They were nearly killed but two people, more powerful then the council stopped them. They didn’t have soul mates. People called them awful names and hated them for being different. They made a deal with the council. They died in place of the couple. If by the time they were reborn, and found their soul mates, they didn’t stop the council then the council could kill them and the couple without a fight.

The council was over joyed by this. They loved having power over people. They killed the two and cursed the soul mates. Every time they find each other, one will be de-aged, and they will have to look for each other all over again.

The other two never returned and the couple is still stuck in their never ending loop.

“Witchcraft?” Niall asks after Zayn finishes talking. “You’re kidding right?” Zayn shrugs. “That’s what it says.”

“What does the rest of it say then, if that is just the beginning?”

Zayn bites his lip before replying. “The rest is how we are going to become powerful enough to save Lou from his never ending loop before we find our soul mates.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did Niall seem like kind of an asshole to you? He did to me. yikes. Poor jealous Harry.  
> But yay for genius Zayn! I love reading about Zayn being like super smart without even trying. It makes me very happy.  
> Also, archaic Latin? Where the fuck did i pull that out of?


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “She's wrong you know.” Nick says after they have been driving for a while.   
> Louis looks up at him questioningly. “We would last forever, if we were a thing.”   
> Louis smiles at him. “You mean a couple?”   
> Nick makes a face at him. “Anyways, I don't know about forever. That seems like along time.”

_Louis calls Nick from the airport. “My driver forgot me. Can you come pick me up?” Nick sighs loudly into the phone. “I guess so,” Nick says teasingly. Louis sighs, “I don't want to wait here forever. I can't believe my driver forgot to pick me up.” Louis can hear Nick starting the car._

“ _I don't see why you don't just fire him already. He never does his job.” Louis makes a face. “He is old. He's got family. I can't just fire him.” He can tell Nick is making a face over the phone. They talk on the phone until Nick gets to the airport. “Where are you, pop star?”_

_Louis clicks his tongue. “I see the car, i'll be there in a second.” He hangs up the phone and starts walking to Nicks car. He can see Nick grinning at him. His heart swells up in his chest. By the time he gets to the car he is smiling so much his face might split in half._

_He leans in the passenger window with a smirk on his face. “How much baby?” Nick asks with a wink. “Too much for you.” Nick grins at him and Louis pulls open the door and crawls across the seat to kiss Nick. “You silly tit.” Louis murmurs against Nicks lips._

_Louis climbs back out of the car to put his suitcase in the car. A group of girls run up to the car, yelling about_ needing _his autograph. Louis smiles and signs pieces of paper and coffee cups. He is talking to the girls when he feels a tug on his pants. Nick is reaching across the seats and out the door, pouting at Louis. “sorry babes, im being summoned.”_

“ _It'll never last.” Some random girl with brightly colored hair says, glaring at Nick. Louis raises his eyebrow. “We aren't dating or anything.” Some of the girls start squeaking while others slump with disappointment. “You guys wouldn't last anyways.” That same girl says. Louis scoffs, getting into the car without another word._

“ _She's wrong you know.” Nick says after they have been driving for a while. Louis looks up at him questioningly. “We would last forever, if we were a thing.” Louis smiles at him. “You mean a couple?” Nick makes a face at him. “Anyways, I don't know about forever. That seems like along time.”_

_Nick looks over at Louis from the road. “I think it might be worth it doll.” Louis looks away to hide his smile._

Louis wakes up in Nicks bed again. He rolls over to curl up against Nick. “You're hogging all the blankets, princess.” Louis tugs them more. Nick pulls the blanket, trying to get it away from Louis. They both tug and tug until Nick lets it go, resulting in Louis falling off his side of the bed.

He peeks his head over the side, glaring at Nick. Nick laughs so hard that he falls off his side of the bed. “You're such a loser.” Louis says, giggling as Nick pops his head up in a shocked manner. “You aren't much better, princess.” Louis climbs back on the bed, taking the whole blanket. He lays there wrapped up in the blanket for a long time before he wiggles out o fit to find Nick. Nick is still on the ground, staring at the ceiling with a small smile on his face.

“What are you doing down there, you silly tit?” Nick gets a startled look before answering. “I was rethinking ever getting with you.” Louis sticks his tongue at Nick and lays himself on the floor next to Nick. “Can you tell me a story?” Nick turns his head, looking at Louis. “What about?”

Louis thinks about it for a little while. “Tell me about how we met.” Nick laughs, “You don't remember? It was only a few months ago.” Louis sighs loudly, dramatically. “No, the first time, dumbass.” Nick smiles and shakes his head. “You sure? It was pretty awful.” Louis grins at him. “Yeah I want to know.”

“Well, I used to be a DJ for a big radio company. You were an asshole popstar.” He looks back up at the ceiling.

“ _Louis, will you please just meet him? He is a wonderful person.” Louis groans and rolls off the couch. “I don't wanna” He mumbles into the floor. “Lou, he is really funny and I know you guys will get along.” Louis turns his head to look at Harry. Harry kneels down in front of Louis. “Lou, pretty please?” He whines and pouts._

_Louis rolls his eyes. “Fine, stop pouting at me.” Harry jumps up excitedly, running to the other room to call his stupid friend._

_They get to Nicks house about an hour later than they should have. Louis refused to get dressed. The door opens and a giant with a quiff is standing there. “Harry!” He greets excitedly._ Nick Grimshaw? Thats your friend?  _He gives Harry a disapproving look. “I expected better Harry.” Louis says with a click of the tongue. Nick looks him over._

“ _Wow, you are a lot smaller than you look in pictures. Do they make you stand on stools to be as tall as the other boys?” Louis glares at him full force. “What the fuck did you just say Grimshaw?” Harry whines and both boys look at him. “Why are you guys fighting? You are supposed to get along.” He whines at them before Lou Teasdale pushes past Nick. “I thought I heard you. What are you guys doing out there? Get in here.” She grabs Louis' wrist and pulls him past Nick._

_Harry walks in, giving Nick a hug and a look that translates to 'don't be such an asshole' Nick gasps, shocked. Harry just walks away, greeting everyone with a smile on his face._

_A couple hours later, Louis finds himself in the kitchen across from Nick. “Louis, what a pleasure.” Louis rolls his eyes._ He is not nearly as charming at Harry said he was.  _“Harry is a lot younger than you. You should feel ashamed of yourself.” Nick laughs, “You think i'm trying to get in Harry's pants?” He shakes his head. “Its a different band members pants I want to be in.” He winks and walks out._

“Wait, if we met and we hated each other and all of that, how did we get our marks?” Nick smiles at Louis. “There weren't soul mates back then. We dated whoever we wanted. If it didn't work out then you got over it.” Louis bites his lip. “What if someone couldn't get over it?” Nick looks at Louis. “I wouldn't know, you stayed.”

~*~*~*~*~

Zayn and Niall are bent over the book on the floor in front of the coffee table together when Harry and Liam walk in. They both have looks of distaste on their face. Zayn is writing notes in the margin, speaking a language that no one else understands. Liam sits behind him, wrapping his arms around Zayns waist. Zayn doesn't even seem to notice it. He just keeps mumbling to himself. Liam looks at the book and it looks like its in the same language his is mumbling in.

“What are you reading babe?” Zayn jumps, looking up. Niall chuckles and taps Zayns hand with his own. Zayn looks at him and grins. He turns and looks at Liam. “I uh,” he closes the book and wraps it up in a cloth. “nothing. Just reading.” Liam raises an eyebrow at him. “Is it something naughty? You sure did seem to close it fast.”

Zayn shakes his head, “Nope, but it would be rude of me to sit here reading while you're here.” Liam nods slowly. “I feel like its been ages since I last saw you.” Liam nods. “Yeah I wonder why.” He gives Niall a pointed look. Zayn glances at Niall before looking back at Liam. “It's not like that. We were just working on something.” Liam nods.

“What have you been up to?” Zayn shrugs. _What the hell Zayn? First you are rude to Harry and now you're ignoring me?_ “I was hanging out with Sophia earlier.” Zayn glances at him then looks Niall. Niall is watching them calmly. He hasn't said anything since they got to his house. “You ok Niall?” Niall studies Liam for a long time before nodding and looking at Harry. Zayn stands up, like he was waiting for Niall to nod at him.

He pulls Liam outside. “I think we should..” he pauses like he didn't even realize he was talking. “We should stop whatever this is.” Liam looks at him confused. “You have all these girls. What if one of them is your soul mate? You never know.” Liams heart sinks. “You're breaking up with me?”

Zayn shakes his head, “We were never really dating, were we?” Liam shakes his head. “Where is this coming from?” Zayn just shrugs. _Did he ever really care?_ “It's Niall isn't it? You are leaving me for Niall?” Zayn lets out a chuckle and shakes his head. “There is just other things I should be paying attention to without you and Harry acting like jealous assholes.”

Harry walks out then, his eyes bloodshot. “C'mon Liam.” He grabs Liams arm and pulls him away from Zayn who is now standing with Niall beside him. Zayn puts his arms around Nialls shoulders who smiles small and sad. _What the hell could be so important?_

_~*~*~*~*~_

Zayn pulls Niall inside. The papers that were on the table are now scattered on the floor. Zayn raises an eyebrow. “He threw them after I told him I can't be with him. He thinks its because I was cheating on him with you.” Zayn sighs. _We had to do this. Don't forget._ “We couldn't have them bursting in here while we are trying to save Lou.” Niall nods. “I know. That doesn't make it suck any less.”

~*~*~*~*~

“If we hated each other, how did we end up together?” Nick looks over at Louis. He is sitting in an oversized sweater, curled up on the couch. He sleeves of the sweater go past his hands and the bottom reaches almost to his knees when he stands up. Nick wants to kiss him, but he doesn't know if he's aloud.

_Louis was once again dragged to one of Nicks parties. “I hate that stupid DJ. Why do you insist on being friends with him?” Harry sighs for the 20 th time. “He is funny.” Louis shakes his head. “He is using you for your fame.”_

“ _I am certainly not uing him for his fame. Your boy band, however, would not have made it if it weren't for Harry. So I guess it's you that's using him for his fame.” Louis gapes at Nick._ When did he get there? _“If it wasn't for Harry, your boy band would have lost at the judges houses.” Louis narrows his eyes. The judges houses were a sensitive spot for him. He also knows they would be no where without Harry. He pushes past Nick and storms out of the house. He doesn't need this shit._

“Nick, you aren't really convincing me that we ever got together.” Nick laughs, “Just wait.”

“ _Louis!” Louis keeps walking. “I don't need your apology.” He keeps walking away. He doesn't even know where he's going. He should be calling a cab. “Louis! Wait a second” Louis stops but pulls out his phone so he can call a cab._ Just ignore him. _Nick catches up to him. “Don't leave.” Louis rolls his eyes and continues to ignore Nick._

“ _Honestly Louis, I went a bit to far. I'm sorry.” Louis eyes Nick. “C'mon. Stay. Please?” Louis scoffs. “You think that I am going to stay for some half assed apology that Harry probably forced you into.” Nick shrugs, “Fine. Not a big deal to me.” Louis rolls his eyes._

_Nick pulls his shoulder, spinning Louis around. Louis gives his best bitch face and actually keeps it up until Nick smashes his lips against Louis'. Louis squeaks and jumps away. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Louis looks at Nick shocked._

Louis giggles. “You kissed me and I squeaked? I don't think so.” Nick laughs, “You did. Got very high pitched when you asked what the hell is wrong with me.” Louis shakes his head. “I don't think so.”

_Louis slaps Nick, “Why the hell would I want to kiss you? You are such an asshole!” He grabs the back of Nicks neck and slams his lips against Nicks. Nick snickers against Louis' mouth and Louis tugs on his hair. Nick grips at Louis' waist, pulling him close._

“ _Fuckin' finally.” They jump apart and Harry is standing there with a smirk. “It took you guys long enough. I knew you would like each other.” After Harry convinces Louis to go back inside, Nick and Louis stay with each other, even if it's 5 feet apart and sniping at each other the whole night._

“So, did we have sex?” Louis asks after Nick finishes. “Not that night, no.” Louis waits for Nick to finish.

“ _Are we ever going to have sex?” Louis asks, while he is laying across Nicks bed. Nick laughs and bumps his shoulder against Louis'. “No, never.” Louis bites his lip and looks up at Nick from under his eye lashes, fluttering them a bit. Nick leans over and kisses Louis. Louis reaches up and starts to pull on Nicks hair. Nick rolls Louis onto his back and climbs onto Louis' thighs._

“How long later was this?” Nick sighs. “Are you ever going to stop interrupting me?” Louis snickers and shakes his head. “It was about 3 months later.” Louis gasps. “Was I at least sleeping with other people? 3 months is a long time to go without sex.” Nick laughs and shakes his head. “You were on tour.”

“Tour? What was it called? What kind of popstar was I? What did my music sound like? Was I any good or were you serious about not getting anywhere without Harry? Oh! Why was Harry-” He gets cut off by Nicks hand covering his mouth.

“One question at a time, princess” Louis makes a frustrated sound. “You were an awful pop star, by the way.” Louis raises his eyebrow. “You were alright. You were nice to everyone and you did lots of charity.” Louis gets a pleased smile on his face. “How did me and you end up being torn apart?”

Nick bites his lip, “We got marks, after the first time we had sex. Some people didn't like that.” Louis nods. “Tell it to me in a story, like you have been before?” Nick smiles, “Next time, Doll.”

~*~*~*~*~

Zayn lays out on the floor. “I think I broke my brain.” Niall laughs and touches his forehead. “I think you're ok.” Zayn whines, “Bring me some food.” Niall laughs even more. “You must be crazy if you think it will make it over here without me eating it.” Zayn whines again. Niall touches Zayns cheek. “You did good. We can get all of our memories back.”

Zayn looks up, “What if we don't want them after we do get them back? What if we went through something awful before, to be able to save Lou?” Niall bites his lip, and strokes Zayns hair. “We'll be ok. We will.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am awful at planning. None of this went how i thought it would. Also, i will eventually write that scene Nick talks about here. Don't give up hope!   
> Poor Liam and Harry. Tsk!   
> Also, i will go back next chapter and you guys will know how Zayn and Niall are unlocking their brains. I just got to lazy to do it right now!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “It's happening,” he says quietly, barely a whisper. “Fuck,” Zayn mutters quietly to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys like it!

“ _Louis Tomlinson and Nick Grimshaw, you are being charged with witchcraft. You are to be hanged and burned.” Zayn and Niall push through the crowd that has gathered in the town square. Louis and Nick are tied to a pillar, their feet dangling off the ground. “That's rich coming from you.” Louis says with a smirk on his face. The blonde lady standing in front of them pulls a whip away from on e of the near by guards and hits Louis with it. Nick pulls and tugs on the ropes restraining him. “Leave him alone.” He yells at the blonde lady. His voice is hoarse like he's been yelling all day. The lady tilts her head at him before looking back over at Louis, whipping him again._

“ _Burn them to the ground.” She says, looking over her shoulder at the guards. One of them pulls out a match, lights it and throws it to the ground. They wood that is under their feet bursts into flame. Nick and Louis start screaming, trying to pull themselves out of the ropes holding them above the fire. Niall storms passed the guards, Zayn close behind. Niall lifts up a hand and the flames immediately disappear. Nick and Louis visibly sag with relief._

_The blonde lady turns to look at them. Her eyes narrow and Niall drops to the floor, ripping at his own neck. He looks like he is trying to get something off of it that no one sees. Zayn looks at her, letting the magic flow through his veins and shoot at her. Niall gasps a breath just as she starts clawing at her neck._

_Niall looks up at Zayn with a grin. “Probably should have put a bit of thought into that.” Zayn laughs, shaking his head. “Are you guys seriously laughing right now?” Louis yells at them. Zayn looks up, feeling the magic pulse through him, slow and warm. It unties the ropes and Louis and Nick drop onto the wood that was under them. Zayn turns to look at Niall but he is suspended in midair, holding his neck again, his face bright red. Zayn turns and the whole council has surrounded them. They raise their hands in Louis direction and he hears Louis and Nick slam against the pillar._

_He finds the one looking at Niall and the magic shoots at them fast, snapping their neck. They drop immediately. Niall coughs, “Why do they always go for me? You're the one killing them.” Zayn raises an eyebrow at Niall. “Them? It was only one.” Niall glances at the blonde one, on the floor. “She passed out a couple seconds ago.” He says lifting his hand in the councils general direction and they all go flying, scattering around the square. The crowd that had been gathered there earlier has ran behind bushes and walls, still watching but at a more safe distance._

_They start to get up shooting their magic at Zayn and Niall. Niall and Zayn grin at each other before separating from each other, going on opposite sides of the square. They raise their hands up and the council starts dropping two at a time. “Wait!” One of them yells, she is tall with light blonde hair and terrified blue eyes. “Why don't we make a deal.”_

_Zayn raises an eyebrow. “Are you really in a position to try to make 'deals' with us?” She bites her lip, Niall sighs, “What kind of deal?” She looks over at him, “You spare our lives, we will let them go.” Zayn eyes her cautiously. “What's your name?”_

“ _Grace,” She answers loudly._

_Niall nods once and they both step back. They walks over to Louis and Nick. “Are you guy-” He gets shot with something that feels like lightening going into his back. He falls and he can see Niall falling out of the corner of his eye. Grace stands over them. “We will kill you instead. You have until you can find your soul mate. Until then, these two will be cursed. They may be weak,” She says, gesturing to the council. “but I am stronger than all of them combined.” Zayn looks up slowly, “You are going die. And so will these two when you guys come back to find your soul mates.” Niall grabs Zayns hand. They look over at Louis, who slowly gets younger, until he looks barley 5 years old. They both look back at Grace. She touches their faces before they both blackout._

_~*~*~*~*~_

“Jesus,” Zayn breathes out, looking over at Niall. “She was in my house.” Niall says quietly. Zayn knows they remembered the same thing because they both reached out for each other at the same time. Niall breathes in shakily. “She is going to kill Louis.” Zayn reaches over and pulls Niall to him. _We all protect Niall. He's like the baby of the group_. He remembers having said that. He said it a long time ago, and somewhere over the years Niall became strong enough to take care of himself.

“We still have a while,” Niall shakes his head. “They are going to take away the spell that keeps our soul mates away until we turn 21. We are can get our marks anytime now. Louis is going to die.” Zayn grabs Nialls face in his hands.

“We will be ok. We remember how to do all of our magic.” Niall nods and Zayn strokes his cheek with his thumb, “I promise, we'll be ok.” Zayn leans forward and kisses Nialls cheek. Which, of course, is when Liam burst through the door.

Zayn sighs and looks over at him, dropping his hand from Nialls cheek. When Zayn looks at Liam all of the breath is taken from him. He feels like the earth is shattering and the planets are alligning and he cant breath because he loves Liam so much. He can faintly hear Niall squeak out something but everything but Liam melts away and he feels like he can do anything. He shakily gets up and walks over to Liam, who looks like Zayn feels. All of his emotions are on his face. He kisses Zayn quickly and when he pulls back, Zayn feels like he can finally breathe for the first time in his life.

He looks at Liams face, trying to memorize it. When his gaze gets lower, he sees something black covering most of Liams neck, something that is slowly crawling up in face and _oh my god that is a soul mate mark._ He jumps back, pulling away from his embrace. He turns to look at Niall who is curled in on himself, looking up with big, tear-filled eyes. “It's happening,” he says quietly, barely a whisper. “Fuck,” Zayn mutters quietly to himself.

~*~*~*~*~

“We found each other every time? I heard some people never found their soul mates no matter how much they search.” Louis sits himself on Nicks lap, getting himself ready for story time.

Nick laughs, “Yes we found each other every time. No matter how much the council tried to stop it.”

Louis cocks his head to the side. “How did they try to stop it?”

Nick wraps his arms around Louis, hugging him close. “They gave you a new soul mate.”

 _Nick walks down to the local coffee shop every day. He always goes in but only rarely orders anything. He likes talking to the people that go there every day. He likes to read in there, sitting on the couches that they have in there. He can just hear Louis' voice in his head._ What a pretentious hipster. You think you're cool because you sit in shitty coffee shops, pretending to read. _He smiles at himself. He would definitely say something like that. He loves to say rude shit. The bell above the door rings and Nick looks over. His breath catches in his throat. Louis is standing there, next to some guy with curly hair and big green eyes. They are wrapped around each other, cheeks pink from the cold air outside._

_He stares at them with wide eyes. They find a table, near the front of the shop and Louis sits while the other guy goes up to the register. Louis unwraps his scarf and lets it drop onto the table. Nicks heart constricts. There is a black marks covering his neck, almost the complete opposite of how it is supposed to look. Its all sharp lines where it should be sweet swirls. Nick can feel himself shaking and when the guy goes up to Louis he sets their cups down and takes off his scarf, to reveal an identical mark. He leans to Louis and kisses him softly and sweet. He pulls back and you can see how much he loves Louis._

_Nick puts a hand up to his chest. It feels like it is being squeezed. Almost like someone is physically trying to rip it out. The guy Louis is with leans over and whispers something to Louis, gesturing to Nick with a small smile on his face. He gets up and walks over to Nick. “Hi,” He says slowly. Up close he knows exactly who it is. He hasn't seen this face since the first time him and Louis were together. They used to be so close. “'m Harry.” Nick smiles up at him. “I'm Nick.” Harry gives him a curious look. “I know you from somewhere.” Nick laughs and shakes his head. “You probably just seen me in here a couple times.” Harry nods. “Were you checking out my husband?”_

_Nick raises an eyebrow. “Aren't you a little young to be married?” Harry laughs. “We are soul mates. It's not like we can just not love each other.” Nick nods, that would make a lot more sense if it wasn't Louis over there, drinking his coffee. He doesn't even like coffee. Harry cocks his head to the side. “You don't have a soul mate yet? Aren't you already of age?” Nick smiles and nods. “My soul mate is gone.” Harry gasps and sits really close to Nick. He grabs Nicks hand and looks at him with watery eyes. He always was sensitive. “Louis, come here!” He calls and Nick stiffens. He can't do this. He can't see Louis be happy with someone else._

_Louis walks over and sits on Harrys lap, completely ignoring Nick._ Jesus, I haven't seen you do this since the first time we met. When you were whispering to Harry exactly how you were planning on killing me and hiding my body. Don't you remember when you hated me? It was a good look on you. You always looked so annoyed. _Harry starts talking again but Nick doesn't really hear him. He looks at Louis who is staring at him. He feels his neck heat up, burning into his neck the same way it does every time he finds Louis. Louis squeaks and touches his neck. The beginning of his mark starts turning gold, it slowly stretches out until it's covering the other one completely._

 _Harry gasps, looking at Nicks neck. He probably sees Nicks growing. He hasn't even noticed Louis yet. Harry scratches at his own neck and it slowly disappears, melting into the skin. Vanishing, like it was never there. When Harry does notice Louis' neck he looks at Nick with betrayal._ You took him away. _Is what his eyes say. Louis slowly reaches out for Nick, “Nicholas Peter Grimshaw, what the hell do you think you are doing to poor Harold?” Nick looks at him confused before the shop is filled with smoke. Emerging from the smoke is the council. They smirk at Nick, before turning to Louis. They touch hi forehead and he passes out. The blonde one in the middle strokes his hair, and Louis gets younger and younger._

_Nick opens his mouth to say something but he passes out instead. When he wakes up, he is in a room. He looks around and sees a bed. A little kid is tucked in sleeping soundly. He walks over, knowing who it is. Louis is there, his hair fanned out around him. His tiny hands are gripping the sheets tightly and his eyebrows are scrunched together. Nick reaches out and touches his forehead. “Nick,” Louis breathes out, letting go of the sheets. His face goes relaxed and he rolls over._

“So basically you stole me from Harry, then creeped on me while I was a baby.” Louis starts to crawl out of Nicks lap. Nick grabs his ankle. “Oh stop it. I did not creep on you!” Nick says exasperated. Louis giggles. Nick pulls him back over to him and Louis straddles his lap this time. He smiles at Nick and Nick really can't help but smile back. He puts his hands on Louis' thighs and Louis wiggles his eyebrows at him.

Nick rolls his eyes and Louis leans down to kiss Nick.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this took ages for me to write. I'm sorry loves. I got lazy. 
> 
> It's almost over guys! What am i supposed to do when its done!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So basically, you and Niall are witches?” Liam asks. They nod in unison and Liam puts a hand on Zayns shoulder. “Sweetheart, we are going to get you some help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im pretty sure i used regular latin not archaic. also, most of this chapter probably doesn't make sense so uh, sorry.

 

When Nick isn't telling Louis stories about how they met different times, they are curled up watching movies. They can't even go outside and Louis feels like he is going insane. “Nick, im going to die.” Nick rolls his eyes, not looking away from the tv. “Nick, im going to punch out a window.” He doesn't even bat an eye. Louis gets up going through all the rooms. He searches all of the closets for something to break the window with. He doesn't find anything. He starts to go back to the living room to bug Nick a bit more when he stops something shiny in a corner. He slowly walks closer to it and it falls with a dull thump. “Lou! Come here real quick!” Nick calls, making him jump. He looks back to where the thing had fallen but there is nothing there.

“Lou!” Nick calls again, “Hurry up im getting old out here.” Louis bites his lip, slowly walking out of the room. “There is nothing I can do about you getting old.” He gets to the living room and Nick is sprawled across the couch, hand in his pants. Louis raises an eye brow. Nick smirks at him, working his hand slowly. Louis laughs before climbing on top of Nick.

“I was very busy Nicholas. I will not take time out of my busy schedule for this.” Nick flips them over so he is on top. He slowly works his way down Louis' body. Nick kisses Louis' tummy right above the waist of his pants. He looks up at Louis with a smirk. “I'm not getting any younger here.” Louis says, threading his fingers through Nicks hair, pushing him down a little.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Louis squeaks and jumps, looking towards the kitchen. Nick is standing there, eyebrow raised. Louis looks back to the person next to him. That is definitely Nick. “Why are there two of you?” Louis squeaks out. The Nick by the kitchen looks at Louis, “Sweetheart, you haven't even taken me on a date. I don't blow people without getting food first.” The Nick next to Louis shrugs, “It was worth a shot.” He says, laughing. He looks at the real Nick, expression going serious. “Zayn found his soul mate.” He says, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Louis half screams, jumping up and running to Nick. Nick snickers, shaking his head at Louis. “Why did he tell you about Zayn getting his soul mate? Shouldn't he have been telling me?”

Nick shakes his head. “When him and Niall find their soul mates there is a good chance I will die.” Louis feels his stomach drop. “Why you? What have they got to do with you?”

Nick grabs Louis' hand and pulls him to the couch. “We have this curse right? Well it started with your idiot friends trying to save us. They have until they both found their soul mates to break the curse or..uh..I'll die.” Louis looks up at him, vision going blurry. He can't imagine life without Nick anymore. He may be an asshole some times but Louis still loved him.

“Can we do anything to help them break it?” Nick shakes his head. “I don't think so.” Louis bites his lip. He sees something shiny in the corner of his eye. Its the same thing as before. He gets up to go get it when Nick touches his hand. “It's not for you. Don't touch it.” Louis looks back over to it and it falls onto the floor again. “What is it?” Nick shrugs. “It used to be Nialls. If anyone else touches it, it kills them.” Louis sighs, leaning back against the couch. “I wanna touch it.” He pouts.

~*~*~*~*~

“ _Mummy, what's a soul mate?” Louis is tucked in bed, waiting for his mom to read him a story. “Why sweetie?” Louis pulls on one of the loose strings on his blanket. “A girl in my class said that some famous guy was her soul mate. What does that mean?” His mom sits next to him. “Well, I think she was just being silly.” Louis makes a frustrated noise._ That didn't answer my question. _“That's not what I asked.” He says sternly._

_She laughs quietly, shaking her head. She doesn't laugh much anymore. She is always fighting with Louis dad. Louis smiles because even though she is taking forever to answer his question she is laughing so its ok._

“ _Well, a soul mate is someone that is like your other half. They can make you laugh all of your life. They are someone you want to grow old with. Even if you fight with them, you still love them. They are someone who knows everything about you. They know that you don't like to eat veggies and even if that is all that they eat they will love you anyways.” Louis nods slowly, taking it all in._

“ _How do you know when someone is your soul mate?” His mom strokes his hair. “You just know.” Louis makes an irritated noise. “There isn't some other way to know? Like, they don't come with a sticker that says 'Hi, my name is Louis' soul mate?'” His mom laughs and shakes her head. “Maybe when you find yours, you can make them get a tattoo that says that.” Louis nods. “Ok, you can start the story now.” His mom laughs again, shaking her head and getting his favorite book out. “Once upon a time...”_

_~*~*~*~*~_

“So basically, you and Niall are witches?” Liam asks. They nod in unison and Liam puts a hand on Zayns shoulder. “Sweetheart, we are going to get you some help.” Niall snickers in to Zayns shoulder. “I'm not crazy!” Zayn yells at Liam who just gives him a sympathetic look. Zayn sighs and leans against Niall.

Niall stands up, going over to the giant spell book. He looks at Zayn before flipping to a random page. Zayn looks at the book for a second. “You are not going to turn Liam into a frog!” He pulls the book away from Niall who pouts. “It would have been funny.” He mumbles, dropping to the floor. Zayn pulls Liam to his feet. “Me and Niall have something very important to do. I don't care if you stay or not, but you will not call us crazy.” Liam bites his lip as Zayn and Niall lean over a wooden bowl. They pour what seems like random things in there. Zayn turns to make sure Liam is watching before dropping a brightly colored flower into the bowl. It lets off smoke before bubbling. Zayn and Niall lean over it, before Niall squeaks and jumps back. Zayn puts his hand on Nialls chest, blowing purple smoke into his face. Niall blinks a couple of times before settling against the front of the couch. Zayn motions for Liam to get closer. He peers into the bowl and instead of just seeing liquid like Liam assumed he would, he sees Harry laying on his front reading something. Liam looks back at Zayn “What am I seeing here?”

Zayn reaches up and cards his fingers through his hair. “That is Nialls soul mate.” Liam looks back at Harry. “We had a feeling it was him. This was just to make sure.” Liam nods slowly. “You're sure its Nialls?”

Zayn nods. “We used that.” He gestures to a tiny vile with remnants of something dark red, almost black. “What is that?” Zayn looks at him like he's an idiot. “Blood. Nialls blood.” Liam nods again trying to take it all in. He just saw his soul mate do magic. _Blood magic_. “What did you blow in his face?” Zayn turns back to look at Niall. “It was a special plant. Mixed with magic it stops them from having a panic attack.”

“That's it? It stopped him from panicking?” Zayn looks at him frustrated. “He knows who his soul mate is. If we go any where near Harry, Louis will die. How are you not panicking?” Liam shrugs. “Since when have we cared about Louis?” Zayns eyes go murderous.

He tackles Liam to the ground, slapping him. “He is your best fucking friend. Why the fuck do you not remember that? You will just let him die!? Even if you didn't know him, how could you just let some innocent boy die when we have a way to save him!” He is banging his fists against Liams chest with every other word he says. Niall touches Zayns shoulder, making him still instantly. Liam can see tears running down his cheeks. Niall pulls Zayn off of Liam and whispers something in Zayns ear. Zayn gets up and walks to a different room.

Niall sits himself next to Liams head and smiles down at him. He puts a hand on either side of his temples and closes his eyes. Liam can feel Niall pushing around inside his mind. It feels like someone is going down a hallway with hundreds of doors before he gets to a specific one. He unlocks it and all of a sudden everything about Louis comes flooding through his head. It is so much that he passes out.

~*~*~*~*~

“I made him remember.” Niall says, making Zayn jump. Zayn turns around and looks at Niall. Niall pushes off where he was leaning against the door way and he goes to stand in front of Zayn. “You can't punish him for something that wasn't his fault.” Zayn looks down, trying to hide his tears. “He was ok with someone dying. He knew we could stop it and he didn't care. It doesn't matter that he didn't remember Louis. That is still wrong.” Niall pulls him into an embrace. “He is about to feel really awful because I just gave him back those memories.” Zayn looks up at Niall, bloodshot eyes. “Even the ones from before? From the first time knew him?” Niall nods. “He is going to realize how fucked up he was being ok? Don't cry anymore Zaynie.” Zayn laughs a little bit and pulls away from Niall.

“Oh! I found something.” Niall runs to his room and comes back with his laptop. He sets it on Zayns lap. “I found it while you were telling Liam everything.” On the screen is a black background and tiny blue letters. SUBJECT NUMBER:

Zayn looks at Niall, who just nods his head at the computer. Zayn starts typing.

165616

He hits enter and him and Niall hunched over a laptop pops up on the screen. He looks in the direction of where the shot is coming from but there is nothing there. He gets up and slowly walks over to the corner and “ _Ostende mihi_ ” He mumbles. A tiny black speck appears in the corner and he mumbles, “ _comminuet_ ”. The video cuts off on the screen. On the page it shows his name, his date of birth, where he was born, etc. It even shows that he is currently staying at Nialls house.

“How did you know your number?” Niall asks while Zayn is reading everyting they have on him. Zayn shrugs. I just know them.”

Niall scrunches his eyebrows together. “Them?” Zayn nods. “Mine, yours, and Louis'”

He goes back to the page he was at before and starts typing. 155204

He hits enter.

Louis pops up on the screen, sitting on Nicks lap. Nick is talking and Louis is resting his head against Nicks shoulder. It has an address. “God, these peole are stupid. Why would they give us this address?” Zayn stays silent. _It could be a trap. Or they could have just thought we would never find this._ “Niall, how did you find this website?” Niall shrugs. “I got onto their website, and I got into one of their emails, then I got access from their computer. Then I got some passwords and shit and logged into this thing using their account and it brought me here.” Zayn looks at Niall. “You hacked into the councils computer?”

“Do people still say hacked?” Niall snickers. Zayn shrugs and types the address into his phone. It pulls up a map. “Wait, that was your house.” Niall looks over his shoulder. “That was your house when we were famous.” Niall jumps up. “C'mon then. Let's go save Louis.” 

Someone knocks on the front door and Niall and Zayn look at each other. "Niall? I brought your clothes back from my house since we aren't together anymore. Hey, why is Liam on the couch?" Harrys voice echoes through the house and Zayn can feel Niall slowly shrink back against him. "Get him the fuck out of here!" He squeaks just as Harry gets to the bedroom door.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guys im moving right now so it might be a while before i can update again! sorryyy
> 
> [Tumblr](http://wekindofsharethat-really.tumblr.com/)


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Niall sits down in front of the table, patting the space next to him. Zayn rolls his eyes, walking over to him and sitting down. “We can all be witches. The whole band.” Niall says smiling at Zayn. Zayn nods, “We could. Can you imagine Harry as a witch? Putting spells on Louis. ‘notice me Louis’ ‘stop being in love with my best friend Louis’ ‘blow me Louis’” Niall snickers. “Or Liam, ‘notice me Louis’ ‘stop being so mean to me Louis’ ‘blow me Louis’” They both burst out laughing. “Louis would probably make a clone so he could blow himself.” Niall says in between laughs._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, only one chapter left!

 

_Niall bursts through the door. “Look at what I just found.” He says as he throws a book on to the table Zayn is sitting at. Zayn glances at it before looking back over at his drawing. “Do you know what this is?” He asks loudly. Zayn looks up at Niall, who is towering over him. Niall is practically bursting with joy. Zayn shakes his head. “I don’t know what it is. Why don’t you tell me?” Niall grins at him. “Its a spell book.” Zayn raises an eyebrow at him._

“ _I found it in my house this morning. It was hidden in the floorboards.” Zayn shakes his head at Niall what were you doing, looking under your floorboards?” Niall nods and sits next to Zayn. “I accidentally made on of the floorboards pop up and I found some cool stuff under there. So I was looking to see if any of the other floorboards come out and one in each room does.”_

“ _So you got excited over a fake spell book?” Niall pouts. “You don’t know that its fake. We have to try it out.” Zayn laughs and shakes his head. “What if we get super bad luck for doing magic? Or something awful happens?” Niall pouts at him again. “Don’t you always say you want to know what it would be like it be a wizard in Harry Potter? Well, now we can find out.”_

_Zayn laughs. He reaches out to open the book but it opens by itself. Zayn leans over it and read what it says. Niall leans in close, reading over his shoulder. “These are all basic spells. I’m sure if we were able to use them we would have already. Especially Louis.” Niall shrugs. “Let’s try.” He pulls Zayn up and out of the house._

_They end up in front of Louis’ house. “Louis is at Nicks house right now.” Niall says before checking if the door is locked. He looks back at Zayn with a grin. “Lock unlock.” He says. Zayn raises an eyebrow at him and he puts his hand on the doorknob. It opens. Niall grins at Zayn again. “Your face is going to split in half if you smile any bigger.” Niall laughs, before closing Louis’ door again. “Lock.” He says. The door doesn’t budge when he tries it. They walk back over to Zayns house, Niall practically skipping the whole way there._

_Niall sits down in front of the table, patting the space next to him. Zayn rolls his eyes, walking over to him and sitting down. “We can all be witches. The whole band.” Niall says smiling at Zayn. Zayn nods, “We could. Can you imagine Harry as a witch? Putting spells on Louis. ‘notice me Louis’ ‘stop being in love with my best friend Louis’ ‘blow me Louis’” Niall snickers. “Or Liam, ‘notice me Louis’ ‘stop being so mean to me Louis’ ‘blow me Louis’” They both burst out laughing. “Louis would probably make a clone so he could blow himself.” Niall says in between laughs._

_~*~*~*~*~_

Zayn pushes Niall behind him. “Harry, what are you doing here?” He asks, rushed. Harry looks at Zayn for a long time, not talking. Zayn can see his eyes start to fill with tears. “You got your mark?” His voice is shaky and he glances behind Zayn at Niall, who is burying his face in Zayns neck. Zayn nods silently. Harry’s lip quivers and Zayn opens his mouth to say something but he can feel Niall look up, over his shoulder. Niall and Harry lock eyes and Zayn can see Nialls pupils dilate. Harry takes a step into the room and Niall pushes Zayn out of the way, running to Harry. He jumps up on Harry and wraps his legs around Harry’s waist. He can hear them whispering something to each other.

Zayn looks back down at the laptop on the bed. The house Louis was at has been surrounded by cars. He watches as Louis is carried out kicking and thrashing around. Nick is pulled out in hand cuffs. “Fuck.” He says loudly. Niall turns to look at Zayn. His eyes widen and he looks back at Harry. He jumps down and pushes Harry away. “Fuck.” He says loudly.

Niall and Zayn get their coats and keys. “We do not have time to explain right now. Stay here with Liam.” Harry nods slowly, like he doesn’t completely understand exactly what is going on. “We will be right back. Maybe.” They run out the door and get into Zayns car, speeding down the street.

~*~*~*~*~

Louis sits next to Nick so they can watch a movie. Nick sets his arm around Louis’ shoulder. “Were you really going to blow me?” Nick asks during the opening credits of some movie he claimed was Louis’ favorite. Louis laughs, “Yeah, I was.” Nick hums and looks back at the screen. Nick traces his fingers lightly on Louis’ arm. Louis scoots closer. On screen people start dancing and singing and Louis sets his hand on Nicks thigh. He can’t pay attention to the movie. He is to aware of Nick touching his arm. He starts rubbing his hand along Nicks thigh. Nick stops his movements for a fraction of a second. Louis moves his hand higher. He starts rubbing towards the inside of Nicks thigh. He glances away from the screen and up at Nick. Nick is watching the movie, looking unaffected. Louis moves higher. His hand right below Nicks dick and Nick still looks unaffected. Louis cups his dick through his pants and Nick stills for a second again before going back to stroking Louis’ arm. Louis makes a frustrated noise and climbs onto Nicks lap, knees around his hips. Nick is still looking at the movie. “Pay attention to me.” Louis growls before slamming his lips against Nicks. Nick laughs before kissing Louis back. Louis grinds down onto Nick and Nick moans. Louis pulls away from Nick snickering. “You were affected by me.” Nick rolls his eyes. “Anyone would be affected by you sitting in their laps.” Nick says. Nick puts his hands on Louis’ thighs, pulling him closer.

Louis pouts at him and Nick presses his lips against Louis’. “Stop pouting, pop star.” He mumbles against Louis’ lips. Louis pulls back. “I was a pop star right? Was a good or was I one of those pop stars that everyone hated having over because they request stupid things. Like 'he wont talk to you unless you can balance four water bottles on your head at the same time while simultaneously shoving marshmallows in your mouth.” Nick laughs, “I don’t think anyone has ever done that.”

Louis shrugs. “You know what I mean.” Nick shakes his head. “Everyone loved your stupid boy band.” Louis nods. “You can probably look yourself up.” Louis starts to wiggle out of Nicks lap. Nick whines. Louis looks back over at him. “This is important! I need to know everything!” He runs to his room and grabs his laptop, before plopping himself on Nicks lap. “I’m not a chair, you know.” Louis snickers. “I don’t talk to inanimate objects. Quiet you.” Nick sighs and wraps his arms around Louis’ waist.

“What were we called?” Nick makes a face, trying to remember. “One direction I think.” Louis types it in. So many websites come up. He clicks on a video. “That was your first video.” He puts it on and watches. By the end of it Louis makes a face. “Why couldn’t you hear me at all?” Nick hums. “I don’t know. You can hear you in the other songs. Here,” He reaches over and clicks another video. Louis smiles through the whole video. “We are good.” He says grinning at Nick.

Louis goes through a bunch of videos. _Larry Stylinson Proof_ is in the suggestions. It has a picture of him and Harry grinning at each other. Louis clicks it. The whole thing was him and Harry staring at each other. He looks at Nick “What was that?” Nick shrugs, “They did that for all kinds of different pairs. Louis hums and goes back to looking at videos. He sees something with him and Nick in the picture. It has lots of things with them being rude to each other. “We weren’t very nice to each other.” Nick clicks on a video that a fan took.

They are walking down the street holding hands and laughing. Nick pulls Louis to a stop and kisses him there in front of everyone and it makes Louis so unbelievably happy to see that. “Nick, why is the technology the same as it was a few hundred years ago?” Nick hums, “The council didn’t want there to be any more technological advances. They figured that society would become smarter than they are and they didn’t want that.”

Louis looks back at the screen. “How did they get to be in charge?” Nick shrugs, “They convinced people to follow them, then they changed peoples memories or their whole thought process until they all agreed to let the council be in charge. After a while, they just started killing people who disagreed with them. I think they aren’t as strong as they were when they first started out but they don’t want anyone to know it.” Louis looks back over at the screen. “Could we stop them?” Nick shakes his head. “We can’t. But Zayn and Niall can.”

They watch a few more videos and Louis can not stop grinning. The living room fills with smoke. The fake Nick appears in the middle of it. “Hide.” He says quietly before disappearing. Louis looks at Nick and Nick jumps up, pushing Louis behind him, but their house gets swarmed with people.

They surround Nick, Grace steps forward. “Your friends didn’t make it in time.” She puts her hand over Nicks eyes and his whole body slumps. They put hand cuffs on him and walk him towards the door. “No,” Grace calls. “Take this one out first.” She says, gesturing towards Louis. Louis squeaks and tries to run from them. Something in the corner moves and the fake Nick is there, winking. “You guys got the wrong one.” He calls out to Grace. She turns and looks at him for a long time. “Who are you?” He smirks and leans against the wall. “I’m Nick, who else would I be?” Louis watches him silently. He looks exactly like Nick, but Louis knows it’s not him. Grace goes and touches his forehead, “What are you?” She asks, jumping away from him. “It was worth a try.” He says shrugging. He pushes through the people surrounding Louis, “Take this. It’ll keep you safe.” He puts something golden into Louis’ hand and it glows bright before melting into Louis’ skin. Making his veins glow as brightly as his soul mates mark. One of the guys holding Louis picks him up and throws him over his shoulder. Another guy does the same thing to the fake Nick who just disappears and reappears on the other side of the room. He grins at them. “Just leave him.” Grace says, “Take these two to the cars.” They carry Louis out and pull Nick, who has a dead look in his eyes. “Where do you think you are taking us!?” Louis yells, kicking and slamming his fists on the guy that’s carrying him. “We are taking you to the Town Square.” Grace says calmly. “What for?” Louis yells. “To kill you guys.” She says before getting into one of the many cars in front of their house.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _He touches Liams shoulder and Liam gasps. His eyes go back to normal. He grins at them. "Guys, did I just see the future!?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys I got my laptop stolen so I wrote this on my phone. Sorry if it's awful

Zayn and Niall pull up to the town square, jumping out of the car and running through the crowd of people. Zayn's heart sinks when he realizes this is exactly like the last time.

~*~*~*~*~

_"Guys, you will never guess what we found!" Niall yells when he walks into Liams house. He lifts up the black book in his hands. Louis raises an eyebrow at him. Liam gets a confused look and Harry just blinks up at him like he has just been told the answers of the universe. He always looks like that after looking at Niall though so no one comments on it._

_"This is what you called is here for?" Louis asks crossing his arms. Niall pours for half a second before grinning again. "Don't worry boys. I know just how to fix this." He runs to one of the rooms. He comes back out holding a feather. Louis gives him a sceptical look. Niall sets the feather on the table and closes his eyes._

_Zayn sits next to him looking at the feather calmly. He concentrates on it for a while before it slowly starts to lift. "How are you guys doing that?" Niall shrugs and Zayn rolls his eyes. "It says touching the book is what activates the magic." Louis lunges for the book, but Liam grabs it. He hold it out of Louis' reach. Liams eyes cloud over and he drops the book. Louis squeaks and jumps back, "What the hell happened to him?" He squeaks. Zayn stands up and walks closer to Liam. "I don't know, thus didn't happen to us."_

_He touches Liams shoulder and Liam gasps. His eyes go back to normal. He grins at them. "Guys, did I just see the future!?"_

~*~*~*~*~

Zayn pushes through the crowd. He sees Louis and Nick on their knees. Their hands are tied behind their backs and their heads are bowed. _Why did I not get these memories til just now?_  "Stop!" Niall yells loudly.

~*~*~*~*~

_Louis bends down to pick up the book. It looks like half of his body lights up. An amazing design swims its way down his body, before disappearing once again. They all turn to look at Harry. "Your turn."_

_Harry squeaks and jumps back, behind the couch. "What cool power do you guys get?" Niall and Zayn look at each other. "Zayn can get into people's minds. He can mess with them like that." They all look at Zayn. He shakes his head at the before they ask him to show them. "I can make things explode at will." Niall says grinning. "You guys would have to learn a spell to do it and I can do it whenever I want to."_

~*~*~*~*~

Zayn and Niall look at each other at the same time. The council have all turned to look for the person who yelled. Zayn can tell that Niall just got his memory back at the same time he did. Niall smirks, looking at the council's feet. The floor around their feet explodes, causing most of the to fall onto the now broken floor. Their feet repair themselves, and they all stand back up. "You can't beat us darlings." Grace says smirking.

~*~*~*~*~

_Liam bursts into Zayns door. "Guys. Something is happening to Louis. We need to find him now!" They all jump up, running out of the door. "Where is Harry?" Niall asks, knowing the need his magic. "He left to LA this morning." Liam says, gripping the steering wheel hard._

~*~*~*~*~

Zayn looks at the closest council member, going into his mind so he can make him help them. The man's mind is completely blank. He looks at Niall questioningly. He looks to another member and finds the same thing. Their minds, gone. They are completely empty. "They're just empty shells." Zayn says quietly. Grace smiles. "You can't kill us because they are already dead." Niall blows up their legs but they just get put back together again.

Niall and Zayn look at each other. _How the hell do we do this?_ they look back over at Grace. "Why would you help us find the book?" Zayn asks. "I was hoping you guys would put up a good fight. I guess not." She looks at Niall, raising her hand up and swiping it to the right. Zayn sees Nialls neck snap out of the corner of his eye and hears a deafening scream. Niall drops to the floor.

Zayn shakes his head. _I don't know how to do this. I can't do this without Niall._  Harry pushes the crowd apart. He runs to Niall, dropping by his side. He can hear Harry mumbling something. Grace looks at Harry raising her hand.

_PROTECT HARRY AT ALL COSTS._

 Zayn feels magic soar through him. It does more then just go in her mind. It races through it, tearing it apart. Zayn smashes every last bit of her. He sees Harry's hands glow bright gold and Nialls eyes flutter open. Grace drops to the floor and so do all of the other council members. "What happened?" Louis asks quietly. "Harry can bring the dead back to life. But to get a life you must give a life. We took Graces, to give back to Niall." Louis pulls on his wrists, where the rope is holding them behind his back. Zayn runs and unites it. "Hey Zayn. There was a thing, in that house I was staying at. Nick said it was Nialls. What was it?" Zayn looks over at Harry and Niall.

"It was Harry's magic. We took it out of him, to keep it safe. He can only bring back the dead a few times. With it in him, his body tries to bring back every dead this. Including a garden you used to have." Louis looks up at Zayn. "Are we going to have to take it again?" Zayn nods. _It isn't safe to let him keep it._  He looks at Niall, who is now sitting up, pulling on Harry's curls. Harry leans down and kisses Niall softly, but Niall doesn't do soft. Niall pushes up hard, climbing into Harry's lap and that is when Zayn decides to look away. "What do we do about the town's people?" Zayn jumps when he hears Liams voice. He looks around and all the people around them look frozen.

Zayn looks back at Liam with a raised eyebrow. Liam shrugs, "apparently it's something I can do" He says rubbing the back of his neck. Zayn laughs and shakes his head. "I don't know what to do." Liam touches his waist, "why don't you convince them to let us be in charge?" Zayn hum and nods, letting the magic flow through him.

~*~*~*~*~

Louis leans down, undoing the rope around Nicks hands. "Thanks doll," he says grinning. Louis smiles and kisses him. "Anytime, babe." He says winking. Nick grabs his waist and pulls him down once his hands are free. Louis raises an eyebrow and Nick leans over to kiss him. "I really do love you." Nick says quietly. "I know," Louis whispers against Nicks lips. "Now let's go home so I can ride you." He says, pulling away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there is anything I didn't resolve of anything that doesn't make sense come talk to me at wekindofsharethat-really.tumblr.com
> 
> I am going to miss this. I'm not sure I want to it just end, ya know. But I have so many Tomlinson ideas! I'm not sure I'll actually write them but if you want like a quick little drabble come to my tumblr. 
> 
> Please comment and stuff. I love those.
> 
> I also want to apologize for taking so long to write this chapter but I kept writing it and it kept getting deleted so I just gave up and wrote a bunch of shit as fast as I could.
> 
> So this is it guys, toodles!


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